Help prevent suicide with love, aloha
What are the components which create turmoil, confusion, desperation, and a sense of failure and futility in the lives of those who’ve chosen to end their lives? Why have the number of suicide victims increased here on the island of Kauai?
What coping mechanisms are available to render assistance and support to overcome feelings of distress and hopelessness among those who are contemplating to commit suicide? How can church groups, the medical community, media exponents and community groups become knowledgeable about the means to cope with the negativism of self-assessment?
We should not just sit on the sidelines hoping that this wrenching emotional distress will simply fade away by hoping that it will.
Let us seek ways by which we can become aware and proactively engaged in ways in which we can render support to those who feel helpless and alone or frightened and confused. Let us create programs and opportunities to encourage and develop situations where we can interact with one another positively and respectfully. This all begins by reaching out with love and aloha in our hearts!
Jose Bulatao Jr., Kekaha
More details needed to support amendment
Nothing is more important to a society than the proper education of the next generation to provide them with the same or greater opportunities than the previous generation had and provide a continuity to society in general, and I think we all would agree this is the case. And proper funding for education is an important element in that goal.
However, the current proposed constitutional amendment is nothing more than a title to a book in which the pages are blank. It is a movie trailer to a movie that hasn’t been written or filmed, it is opening Geraldo’s vault with nothing in it.
If this missive is a scare tactic, I say “you bet it is.” To hand our legislators the authority of a blank constitutional amendment, devoid of all details, is a serious matter that should not be taken lightly. An amendment is a permanent addition to the state’s founding documents with the idea that it would be very hard to ever change.
I lived in California at the time when the state lottery was being voted on by the populace. At that time all the arguments in favor centered on “funding education,” which it did.
However, the state government cut that amount of funding the lottery brought in out of the state budget for the schools. There was no increase to the schools. For some to argue, as I read in Gary Hooser’s column on Sept. 19, that this would not happen, is disingenuous — by his own admission — the text of the amendment is not written. Nobody can make a statement of what will or will not happen.
With as important as education is to all of us, the last thing our kids need is some sort of vague outline of a funding source. They deserve a more detailed plan.
Michael J. Brenner, Lawai
Suicide is a very serious and important problem for our youth today. It’s very complicated! My view, if we want to help our children live a better life devoid of suicide thoughts, we need to do the following: bring more love into our families, believe in something bigger than life most call God, focus your children on hard work and commensurate rewards, limit the “Free Stuff” that destroys individual’s self respect, limit Government’s hand outs for votes that creates a “weak” and “entitled” Society/generation, and involve our children in service projects where they can help others. To name a few. Children killing themselves is the most horrific indicator of a failed society!
Brenner has nailed it! Politicians appeal to those issues that will gain our support (pro and anti choice for example) and then, once elected, do nothing to fix the problem they lament. Then 2 years later, the whole “lie” is played out again. In the meantime, millions of trusting Americans donate to support their “cause” — only to be betrayed one more time. Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. If it wasn’t such a great way of scamming the public into donating, it would have been finally decided decades ago. In the mean time, what happens to the “Average American”? Our taxes go up while those of the super-rich go down. Our Children are recruited to fight in yet another American Empire war that only benefits the Super Rich and not those who fight in the war.
I support better funding for teachers (they all deserve a raise), but I will not support this amendment.
Don’t the locals vote for their friends-family members who are Politicians? Dumb and Dumber!