Letters for Thursday, December 24, 2020

Let’s have a compassionate Christmas

The long-anticipated Christmas holiday is nearly upon us. It conjures visions of happy families gathered by a warm fireplace, opening presents, sharing their love, and… feasting on ham and turkey. It’s the happiest time of the year, but not for the animals.

The 222 million turkeys killed in the U.S. this year were raised in crowded sheds filled with toxic fumes. At the tender age of 16 weeks, workers cut their throats and dumped them into boiling water to remove their feathers.

Mother pigs are crammed for life in tight metal crates. Their babies are torn away, mutilated without anesthesia, stuck into crowded pens for six months, then slaughtered for Christmas ham.

Consumers pay a heavy price too. Animal flesh is laced with saturated fats, cholesterol, hormones, pathogens, and antibiotics that elevate risk of chronic killer diseases.

This holiday season, let’s refuse to subsidize such wanton cruelty. Let’s choose from the large variety of plant-based meats, cheeses, ice creams, and milks that abound in every supermarket, along with nutritious fresh fruits and greens.

This year, let’s have a truly compassionate Christmas holiday, just as the Prince of Peace would counsel.

Leo Gushiken, Lihue

Fantastic care at KVMH

My name is Tish (Letitia) Hunt, and we have lived on Kaua‘i 46 years. We raised our children here: Koloa School and Kaua‘i High, and think we are incredibly lucky to have lived here all these years. I had eyelid biopsy surgery, by the fantastic Jean Shein at Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Hospital on Veterans Day.

I had a wonderful nurse, Faith O’Day, who held my hand during surgery (one hour). That is so Kaua‘i, or even so Westside. That would never happen on the mainland, and just reminds us why we love living here.

It actually helped a lot, as you are awake from the surgery, and having someone hold your hand relieves the stress. By the way, the lump was benign; no cancer. Thanks again, Faith. You DA Best.

Letitia Hunt, Koloa

Balance the risks and benefits

I’d like to thank Dr. Janet Berreman for her thoughtful and informative Other Voices column (Forum, Dec. 14). I’m sure most readers who approach these issues from a variety of perspectives appreciated her gentle, kind and non-dogmatic approach.

The only thing I’d like to add is that it would be kind, thoughtful and generous to not only consider what matters most to us as individuals, but also to consider what our decisions mean for those closest to us and for our community.

Mahalo nui loa.

Vera Benedek, Kilaeua

Benefits of reduced tourism

During the world’s pandemic lockdown and slow down, there has been talk about how this has impacted the environment in a positive way. On Kaua‘i, we have seen many examples of positive effects from the reduction of tourism and less activities around the island.

For example, Poipu Beach has seen the return of turtles that come ashore to rest at night. Also, clearer waters have improved coral reefs and marine life. I think we can all agree that it is something that we would like to keep that way even with the return of tourism on our island.

Some ways that we can help keep it that way is to limit the amount of people allowed on the beach at one time. This will ensure that we are all social distancing but also at the same time it will help the ocean and beaches stay clean. Also, another is to cut down on the loitering at night on the beaches where sea life come to rest at night. The Hawaiian Kapu system was very effective to the Hawaiians with preserving their resources and some form of this system might be beneficial for us today. Maybe we could restrict some areas during selected months to give that place a rest. We could use that time to help clean up the area and use the time to asses any needed changes.

This is our chance to regroup our efforts to help reduce climate change and to help preserve our natural resources for generations to come. In the mean time we all need to individually do our are part to respect the ‘aina and educate others.

Hali’a Moriguchi, ‘Ele‘ele