• Keep it simple • Acting on third-rail issues • In defense of ‘Oreo’ • What’s wrong with the youth today? Keep it simple Finally, a real opportunity has come to make a change, a change toward simplification. From here
• Keep it simple
• Acting on third-rail issues
• In defense of ‘Oreo’
• What’s wrong with the youth today?
Keep it simple
Finally, a real opportunity has come to make a change, a change toward simplification. From here on out life is going to only get slightly easier as far as expenses go, but it is not a time to panic.
So calm down.
Us Hawaiians need to sit back and take the opportunity to simplify our lives, with the rising everything prices we are facing we need to realize that we got so caught up in chasing the American dream (and mostly losing with outrageous credit card debt and slim chances to purchase a house) that it is hard to see that we’ve complicated life to the degree that we think we need bottled water. We are finally realizing that importing everything we need and being so dependent on the outside world is probably the worst scenario we can be in.
So instead of looking for solutions by finding alternate ways of maintaining business as usual, why not start to simplify?
Our ancestors knew how to live in these islands. What was their secret?
Life was so much harder then. I’m not saying we need to go back to antiquity, I’m saying we need to emulate the simplicity of their lives. They provided the basic needs for themselves; food, shelter and clothing. Not cell phones, cable television and Road Runner. There is so much we live with that we don’t need.
How many people bought quads that they didn’t need, let alone couldn’t afford? With gas at $4 a gallon we know that we gotta’ get smaller cars and trucks. Food is so expensive, vegetables and fruits are so expensive. We so fortunate to live in these islands, where we can grow these things all year long. Yet we import almost all of our food and when there are inevitable disruptions we start to cry about stale bread and Ishihara starts to limit their customers to buying one bag of rice at a time.
It is easier then you think to simplify your life … it’s only a matter of beginning.
Kimo Kimokeo
Waimea
Acting on third-rail issues
I don’t always agree with Walter Lewis, but today (“County Council needs power to stem development tide,” A Better Kaua‘i, May 3) I believe that he hit the nail right on the head when he wrote that a charter amendment is usually not necessary when elected officials do their jobs properly.
I attended the Kauai Democratic State convention Saturday. Linda Estes and Barbara Robeson and their crews did an excellent job putting it together. There were 12 resolutions, two of them mine. Mine were critical of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for taking impeachment of the Bush-Cheney administration off the table. The other was criticism of National Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean for not counting the Democrat votes in Michigan and Florida. Needless to say, the convention dumped them both; C’est le guerre.
A resolution congratulating Barack Obama for being a candidate and instructing our superdelegate to vote for Obama had a rather divisive effect because it is known that some of these superdelegates are committed to Hillary Clinton. It never should have been brought up. There is enough division over the election of a Democrat nominee for president, nationally, without stirring the pot locally.
There was a petition being circulated in favor of a charter amendment restricting construction of additional vacation housing. As Lewis pointed out in his The Garden Island column, this is a matter that should be handled by the County Council and the Planning Commission. It’s time for them to do their respective jobs, or to get out so that we can elect people who are not afraid to act on third-rail issues.
Harry Boranian
Lihu‘e
In defense of ‘Oreo’
I brought my pitbull/amstaff “Oreo” to the Kaua‘i Humane Society park. All the dogs played nicely. This guy comes with two dogs, a Labrador and a pitbull mix. They attack Oreo.
The Lab let go but the pitbull locked on. For a few minutes Oreo didn’t do anything. I tried kicking the other dog in his throat. Finally, Oreo defended himself and the dog let go.
I brought him to get cleaned up. Along the way, a guy in the parking lot yells to me, “See, that’s why those kinds of dogs should be put down.”
I snapped at him. Oreo was the victim and didn’t do anything to provoke the other dogs.
Oreo is wonderful with both humans and dogs. Those who take the time to actually meet him will agree. I get ugly looks and stupid comments from people every day. He is a true “gentle giant” and I try to use him to show that real pitbulls are not monsters.
Sadly, no matter how many good pitbulls there are, the world will only look at the few bad ones. The truth is that it’s never the dog but the owner.
Unfortunately, those dogs have an irresponsible owner.
Sunny Sadaoka
Lihu‘e
What’s wrong with the youth today?
Everything centers around children; my timing in life is off.
When I was a child we were taught to respect our elders. Older people went first in buffet lines, young people were taught to give up their seat on the bus to someone older. There used to be an unwritten common courtesy in honor of older adults.
Now everything is for the kids, putting adults in a secondary position … swimming at the public pool is geared around children, and adults must schedule themselves around the kids. When I was a kid the children were scheduled around the adults.
Children cannot be spanked by their parents since everyone is afraid their kids will report them to human services.
All a child has to do is say some adult touched them inappropriately and that is enough to indict. The adult may be innocent but in the meantime his or her reputation has been tarnished.
Adults no longer have control over their children, bestowing upon them “angel” status.
Recently on an airplane trip a child was kicking my seat and I said something and the father said give the kid a break. My father would have told me it is not polite to kick seats and he would have made me stop.
Most kids are not angels, in fact quite the contrary. The world has let children take control.
Timing is off.
When I was a kid adults had the control, and now that I am an adult children have control.
Until things are turned around society will continue to produce spoiled brats that turn into selfish crooked adults.
Kimo Rosen
Kapa‘a
