A lost holiday
A lost holiday
What happened to family time? It’s sad to see Black Friday now become Black Thursday and to start at 6 p.m.
This is so wrong; it takes away family time together. It’s a day to be thankful. Black Friday should be on Friday. Hello, what is this world coming to?
And the Christmas trees are in before Thanksgiving. Hello, we should have Thanksgiving first, then the trees. Why is everything so rushed? Is this world forgetting what Thanksgiving is all about? It’s about being thankful for our family and friends, for life, for Jesus dying on the cross to save us all, and so, so much more — and Black Thursday is taking that away.
I hope next year Black Friday will be on Friday, like at 12 a.m. … this is better so families can be together.
And Christmas is all about Jesus, not trees; it’s about giving what you can and being with your family and friends. I pray this Christmas will be a good one for all.
William James
Hilo
A welcomed ‘shriek’
After years of trying to eradicate coqui frogs from their new home in Hawaii, research has just been published that exposes the myth that coquis destroy the quality of life in these previously frog-free islands.
The December 2014 issue of the journal “Biological Conservation” has an article entitled, “A social-ecological systems approach to non-native species: Habituation and its effect on management of coqui frogs in Hawaii.”
The conclusion is that people who live with the coquis get to like the little frogs, making eradication efforts difficult. Surprisingly, according to the study’s authors, the more frogs there are, the more people enjoy living with them.
“Residents’ attitudes correlated with coqui frog abundance, but in an unexpected direction: People with more frogs on their property and those who owned that property tended to have less negative attitudes toward the coqui.”
So much for the oft-repeated mantra maligning the coquis for their nocturnal “shrill shriek” guaranteed to keep residents awake all night.
For most of those who live with coquis, their sound becomes a welcome part of life in Hawaii’s tropical rainforests.
Sydney Ross Singer
Pahoa