• Land stewardship principles to live by • No one needs to stay home Land stewardship principles to live by On last week’s walk I saw Kolea, “Golden Plover,” in the park. On this week’s walk there are none, gone north for
• Land stewardship principles to live by • No one needs to stay home
Land stewardship principles to live by
On last week’s walk I saw Kolea, “Golden Plover,” in the park. On this week’s walk there are none, gone north for another summer time.
Remind you of something? The coming and going of life. The great circle of life, found in every great religious text. The cyclical nature of all life on our living planet.
For the farmers that grow no food for our island people to consume, I have this question: When will you people of the agro-chemical corporations address the Hawaiian value that land can be alive and sacred?
The idea of “aloha aina,” a person’s love for the land is real for many people who live on and visit Kauai. This aloha is something that even the children know well and can feel. They plant gardens and fruit trees to show their aloha aina.
From the Free Maui Driving Map I saw: “Hawaiians believed the earth was a living and conscious being, to be cared for as an ancestor. Because of this, Hawaiians are kahu (caretakers) of the land.
They do not dominate it or own it. The Hawaiian takes care of the aina and the aina takes care of the Hawaiian. Pono is being in righteous harmony with one’s self and the environment. I believe that when our agro-chemical corporations are pono, finally coming to grips with the fact that they need to respect and honor the sacred life of the aina, of our mother the earth, this action will restore balance to our world.
Mark Jeffers, Hanapepe
No one needs to stay home!
Dr. Richman, as much as I love you and respect you, I don’t think your on May 5 is accurate.
No one tells the Buddhists or anyone else to stay home and not attend the 11:30 a.m. event at the National Day of Prayer. However, a group prayer meeting isunderstood by many to be something that everyone participates in, whether they are at the microphone or not. When one person is leading, others are praying thesame prayer, by agreement. Christians and Jews (and others) are forbidden by their scriptures to pray to other gods. Many feel that if they participate in a prayermeeting that prays to some other god, they would be violating their own conscience. Therefore, the prayer meeting at 11:30 a.m. does not include prayers to othergods. The meeting at 9 a.m. was added for those who want to pray to other gods. But, no one is told to stay home. In fact, I believe most of those at the secondmeeting would love to have Buddhists or others attend.
While I believe in Jesus, I am very thankful for dear friends who are Jewish, Buddhist, etc. We can love each other deeply, whether we are willing to pray to each others’gods, or not.
I encourage more people to pray for our nation today, May 7, at the Rotunda, and every day.
Mark Beeksma, Koloa
