A poem about a changed world
For Everyone Who’s Suffering
Our world has changed
And our lives have changed
Like never before and families suffering
Every day and I feel your pain and our
Happiness has gone away and it’s only pain today
Hiding our tears as they fall in the rain
Saying I’m fine when I’m anything but fine
And when will this heartache ever go away?
And indeed my skin is on fire
My skin is burning within me and
No more hugs or kisses today it’s
Just sadness for the world today
Coronavirus coronavirus is here
And it’s taken so many loved ones away
And loneliness really hurts you
It kills you deep inside and
I’m lost without you in my life and
The world has changed so much
Coronavirus not going away
And darkness surrounds the world
And it’s so cold and painful
And our warm hugs
Have all faded away
Just like our love every day
And nobody to hold more and I watch
As a lonely tear rolls down my face
But I promise you all I’ll love
And pray for everyone
Who’s suffering from coronavirus
Every day.
David P. Carroll, Lihu‘e
2 covid travel tests permit safe influx of tourists
How to combine return of tourists and stop the spread of COVID-19?
Mayor Kawakami has the most-brilliant solution: A pre-travel covid test which is negative combined with a second, post-travel COVID test which is negative. This will permit a large influx of tourists much more safely than using only one COVID test. Why?
The current HB 1286 is unsafe because it has no second, post-travel COVID test. The bill needs to be recreated to include a short quarantine of at least three days, then a second COVID test, followed by a 24-hour wait for negative or positive result.
Mayor Kawakami is clear-thinking and ethical, while House Bill 1286 is promoting medical negligence.
Mayor Kawakami reported in The Garden Island Feb. 18, some 104 COVID cases that are travel related. Most had a negative pre-test but tested positive later. (These people probably picked up COVID at the airport or on the plane.) Some 31 had positive COVID results but did not receive the results until after arriving on the island.
Mayor Kawakami explains a safe strategy for Kaua‘i, which counterbalances Senate Bill 1286’s medical negligence. “Many mainland travelers are making Kaua‘i their second travel designation after spending at least three days on another island, then taking a pre-travel test before arriving on Kaua‘i. This ensures they’ve had two COVID tests — one prior to flying into the state and another test prior to flying to Kaua‘i.”
Dr. Lee Evslin explains this second COVID test reduces COVID spread by 30 to 40%. Thus, it is clear House Bill 1286 lacks ethics and clear thinking by imposing a bill which is mislabeled “Safe Travels,” which is medical negligence.
I went to Dartmouth College, which has a medical school, so please forgive me for stating the obvious in support of the brilliant Mayor Kawakami. I believe there could be subsequent lawsuits for medical negligence on the part of House Bill 1286.
Why not be smart and simply do less and accomplish more: Create a real safe-travel program that is not a medical lie by cost-effectively incorporating at least two COVID tests, thereby permitting a much-safer influx of tourists to boost Hawai‘i’s economy?
Will Davis, Lihu‘e
Be careful of the rule of a strongman
On Nov. 3, 2020, Donald Trump lost his bid to be reelected president, although he claimed that he had won “in a landslide.” In the following weeks he lost case after case in the courts in his attempts to legally change the results. He was unable to provide any evidence of the voter fraud that he claimed was responsible for his defeat.
Having exhausted legal means to overturn the election, on Jan. 2, 2021, President Trump used the power of his office to pressure the Georgia secretary of state to “find” 11,780 votes so he could win that state’s electoral votes, a blatant violation of our election laws.
On the 6th of January he orchestrated an attack on the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of electoral votes. We all know the results. The Capitol was breached, U.S. congressmen were terrorized, several people were killed and great damage was done to America’s standing in the world. It is difficult to think of a worse crime that a U.S. president could commit than the use of violence to maintain his power!
Yesterday, only seven Republicans were willing to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection, a sad commentary on the present state of the Republican Party. Recently, I have read a number of statements in support of Trump, saying that we should not forget all the good things that he has done as president. Although I may not agree with his policies, I can appreciate such perspectives.
What I cannot accept is his followers continuing support for Trump as a candidate for president. It is important to separate the man from his policies. As a historian I remember that Germans loved Adolph Hitler because he provided them jobs; Italians supported Mussolini because of his efficiency: ”he made the trains run on time.” As a result they ended up under vicious dictatorial rule.
I am not claiming that Trump is just like Hitler or Mussolini, but we need to be careful that we don’t end up under the rule of a strongman who has no respect for our laws, who is willing to use illegal, even violent, actions to hold on to power.
Andy Bushnell, Kapa‘a
