Christmas tarnished
by explosions in HPP
To many, the depth meaning of Christmas Day is a sacred observance annually of the most significant event in planetary history. It symbolizes the gift from divinity to the world in the form of Jesus Christ.
This gift symbolized love, never being estranged and hope for the future by the prospect of being saved from sin.
The summary of this “gift of grace” is peace, which is beyond the means of the physical world.
The temporal expression of giving and giving back has arrived in the temporal and jolly form of Santa Claus and his frenetic team of reindeer. Not surprisingly, our earthly acts of giving may be tied to conditions and caveats, whereas the divine is offered freely.
On Christmas night, spiritual sanctity and “peace” in parts of Hawaiian Paradise Park were punctuated by obnoxiously loud explosions of fireworks. Beyond startling residents, a daisy chain of howling from neighborhood dogs erupted!
Who knows what shock effect occurred to senior residents with fragile cardiac conditions?!
Fireworks need to be managed and at only appropriate times of the year. Where is the cognitive acumen of anyone who tarnishes an event with features of aggression and destruction, when the theme is peace, love and harmony?
Ask any surviving war or trauma survivor which theme they embrace.
Jim Barker
Keaau
Revoking approval of
polio vaccine is lunacy
The article by the New York Times reporters Christina Jewett and Sheryl Gay Stolber about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the incoming President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for health secretary lays out in clear terms the danger the United States is facing.
After decades of battling science and research in medicine, this country is simply losing its grip on reality, if it is not already suffering from a collective cognitive dissonance.
As much as STEM has gained top priority at U.S. universities, there are many opponents who rather embrace religion, fanaticism, illusion and self-deception. Hawaii is, alas, not an exception in that regard (see the case with the Thirty Meter Telescope or biogenetic research).
Most people do not understand the basics of science — that is, rigorous verification — and are easily misled by gurus funded by dark financial groups to reject all that, demonizing scientists and scholars alike. Why not return to the idiotic assumption that the Earth is flat and that the sun circles around our planet?
Well, there are economic interests behind those movements. Big corporations do not like to face a critical and educated populace. Stoking fear about simple facts of life has proven to be highly effective, serving ideologues, lawyers and stock brokers alike to the harm of all people.
The witch craze is on, once again, and Pied Piper of Hamlin is playing his flute, taking us down the abyss, shutting off our brains and making us to willing sheep giving our votes to whoever has the loudest voice on social media.
Albrecht Classen
Hilo
