Sign the bill
Sign the bill
I think Bill 113, the GMO bill, is a good, reasonable bill for our island at this time, and I think it would be good if Mayor Billy Kenoi signed it.
This bill is really a compromise for our island.
1. It protects the Rainbow papaya.
2. It allows for agreed-upon (council-approved) introduction of GM technology in case of emergency.
3. It disallows further expansion of glyphosate-resistant (Roundup Ready) crops at this time on our island.
I know that the “war” we are now experiencing on this island between “completely free biotech farming” versus “no biotech farming at all” will continue, and that is why Bill 113 is a good compromise for now.
The long-hoped for task force, if balanced between these two extremes and spiced with moderates, could tackle the difficult and controversial issues of best use of modern farming techniques and pesticides as we on this precious island move into the future.
Love one another
In America, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.
Likewise, everyone is entitled to the exact same social advantages and civil rights, benefits, protections and responsibilities afforded by governmental laws, regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation or any other determinant.
With passage of SB1 legalizing same-sex marriage in Hawaii, our state’s long and regrettably divisive struggle over marriage equality has been settled through landmark legislation. This new law rectifies past injustices that denied a minority of our population full legal recognition without depriving the majority of a single right they have long enjoyed.
We’re all in this together. As a just society, our task now is to find common ground and heal by uniting in basic human decency. We must strive to respect every individual’s dignity and right to hold their personal beliefs, values and opinions, no matter how much they differ from our own. Doing so brings out our better angels and makes our community stronger. As goodness begets goodness, we’ve nothing to fear but our judgments.
Once we drop our judgments, accepting and respecting others despite our differences isn’t hard to do. On the contrary, as the master counselor instructed, we need simply “love one another,” exactly as we are without trying to change anybody. Love is about accepting people and not judging them.
The socially intelligent approach to getting along well with people in this wondrously diverse world is to cultivate a mindset firmly anchored in unconditional positive regard and love. In the end, love is all that really matters anyway.