Myopic vision
Myopic vision
In response to Ida Perez of Hilo (Your Views, Tribune-Herald), who wrote a rebuttal on May 13 to a missive I wrote on May 10, I believe she goes off point in addition to missing my entire original premise.
The anti-Thirty Meter Telescope people wish to be able to segregate Big Island into sacred and nonsacred locations. Would Mauna Kea be off-limits to a particular human activity while, for example, Kilauea would not be off-limits? The entire island must be held sacred.
Of the five mountains on the Big Island — Kohala, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, Kilauea and Hualalai — Pele is present at four of the five volcanoes. She even visited Haleakala in the late 1700s.
Reverence for Pele and the ancestors, as demonstrated by the anti-TMT folks, is admirable. However, holding particular locations sacred while ignoring the obvious maladies facing all of the Big Island — groundwater pollution, highway litter and abandoned vehicles — is inexplicable.
Though Ms. Perez wrote she has no control over “rusting cars and cesspools,” you do have control over cesspools, highway litter and abandoned vehicles. Fix it! Don’t pass the buck. Hence the term “hypocrites” is not name calling. It is appropriate.
Further, Ms. Perez wrote, “The United States is no better. The water system there is polluted, and there is mining with environmental hazards, as well.” Perhaps the implication is: It is OK to pollute the Big Island water table and dismiss the inherent environmental damage from abandoned vehicles, since mainlanders pollute their water and create environmental hazards with mining. Your vision is myopic.
You also brought up Native Americans, indigenous Australians, the Maori people, the Inuit people and the Polynesians in your missive. Please, remain on point. The discussion here is about Hawaiian culture and how this grand culture can coexist with the modern world.
How else would the original seafarers from southeast Asia, the original Polynesian explorers, have progressed across the South Pacific, if when contemplating the mysteries of the ocean they were afraid of it? No, they embraced the ocean. They embraced change. By studying the stars, along with their great courage, they improved themselves and their clans.
Finally, Ms. Perez, you and the activists are NOT “being tossed aside.” You are being asked to participate in the enhancement and growth of Hawaiian culture, just as the original Polynesians did thousands of years ago.
Make knowledge work for you. Don’t hide in the past. If you chose the latter, “intransigence” will be yours.
Arthur Warren
Keaau
Never forget their sacrifice
I want to send a heartfelt thanks to the town of Kapaau in North Kohala for honoring their hometown veterans at the North Kohala Civic Center. This memorial is set alongside the original King Kamehameha statue that was lost at sea, recovered and erected here, near his birthplace.
I am honored that my granduncle, Tsugito Kajikawa, is one of the hometown heroes that is recognized in the display showing all veterans of past wars from North Kohala. There are old photos in a glass case on the wall of the civic center of each of these men who honorably served their country.
My granduncle was in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was made up of many Japanese-Americans willing to sacrifice everything for their country. I did not know my granduncle because he was killed in action during his duty in Europe before I was born.
As a child, my family would lay many bouquets of flowers and lei over his gravesite in Punchbowl cemetery on Memorial Day. I did not know the meaning of all of this growing up. Only as an adult did I realize that my granduncle was truly an American hero.
I am so touched and so thankful that I can now visit Kapaau and Hawi, where my great-grandparents lived during the plantation days, and see my granduncle Tsugito honored here. This year, I visited with three generations of my family, including my 7-year-old son who has learned and seen his great-granduncle honored as war hero.
I am so proud of Tsugito Kajikawa, who gave his life for his country and for his family, so we may enjoy the many freedoms we have. The communities of Kapaau and Hawi have not forgotten their local hometown heroes. I am so touched by their willingness to acknowledge our war heroes so we will never forget their ultimate sacrifice.
Leslee (Yasukochi) Matsushige
San Diego