Page 8 - MidWeek Kauai - Sep 1 2021

8 KAUA‘I MIDWEEK SEPTEMBER 1, 2021
Relearning Simple Lessons
“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being
Stranger Things
o many things to talk about and so ... little (much?)
Hshared.” — a teaching of the Buddha
ate is a virus and floral arrangements to busi- children have the nesses in the neighborhood, antidote. One of the and waved signs along the
when they finished making all their links.
time. We shan’t be socializing soon, but we can
pandemic began is spending time with our preschoolers during their monthly temple visit. Greeting their joyful faces at the door, sharing a story and talking with them was truly the highlight of my day. Despite being there to learn from me, I always came away with my heart full and lessons learned.
ple. They eagerly created paper links that were joined with others from around the world to create the world’s longest paper chain, all con- nected by messages of love and hope.
In our troubled world, can we take a moment to relearn these simple lessons?
The Rev. Blayne Higa is the minister of the Kona Hong- wanji Buddhist Temple, a Shin Buddhist Sangha, in Kealakekua.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Robin Stephens Rohr and Lynne Johnson.
always ponder the unexplainable, unknown or just weird.
I recently mentioned the Hawai‘i Symphony Orches- tra played harmonic Led Zeppelin. Even with relative separation and all, events going forward will have to wait (for me) until after we get past upcoming COVID variations epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, et al. But don’t blame the Greeks. Scientists have decided to use their alphabet to name COVID variants. Think I’m a Debbie Downer? Well, it may be Greek to me, but with 70% of the world unvaccinated, and since variant strains thus far have come from abroad, the odds suggest what’s possibly coming down the road simply isn’t pretty. Hmm. Maybe I’ll get to see Billie Eilish’s kids live in concert in 2032.
Children by their nature are natural teachers. With open hearts and minds, they teach us how we can be. As adults, many of us have forgotten how the happiness of others is directly connected to our own. Children, on the other hand, naturally understand that hap- piness is not a finite resource to be jealously guarded, but rather is limitless and expands when freely shared.
Landon was excited to share “I will try to be kind and gentle to every living thing!” and Aki joyfully wrote “Kindness Matters!” and “Love One Another!” They danced and cheered
These little teachers show me how happiness inspires happiness just like how one candle can light a thousand.
The asteroid Bennu now might have a slightly great- er chance of hitting Earth than was previously thought. What? You haven’t rushed out to buy toilet paper yet? Good move, as prophetic rocket scientists are now sug- gesting that this catastrophe is a 1-in-1,750 possibility over the next 180 years. Bennu, named for a mythical Egyptian bird, must mean “who cares?” Is this really a value proposition space dollars usage? Gee, let bored astro-nut billionaires zap wayward space nuggets as they flaunt their fortunes on 10-minute joy rides to nowhere.
Recently, Landon and his classmates participated in the Great Kindness Challenge to help cultivate a culture of kindness and compassion in their school and throughout the world. Landon and his friends made and delivered
Local rail officials warned that the first 10 miles of track are now fully electrified as testing begins. Good to know, especially since four wanderers recently scaled a HART fence near Aloha Stadium for some nighttime train track meandering. Perhaps they don’t trust the sci- ence on electricity and its ability to kill people who come in contact with the infamous “third rail”? We have eons of proof that too much electricity harms the human body. But wait! There’s this guy on the internet with a cool website who says he’s an expert on electricity and ... oh, nevermind.
Children teach us how to open our hearts and minds.
things I miss most since the highway in front of our tem-
Amid the chaos of our lives, these little ones teach me how we should treat and care for one another. They remind me how truly effort- less being kind and compas- sionate can be. I witness daily how these children implicitly understand that we are all pro- foundly connected by love. They demonstrate it with ev- ery fiber of their being.
with the Rev. Blayne Higa
Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 11
RATING: BRONZE
Finally, two mainland visitors were busted here re- cently for using allegedly fake vaccine I.D. documents. No surprise, as sleazy internet sites purportedly boast the availability of such cards for as little as $15. So let’s have a fake trial for these counterfeit cardholders and make them work on a hospital cleanup detail for six months, alongside overworked health care professionals who still have to bear the brunt of this protracted pandemic.
Think about it ...
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com