‘Useless’ opinion
‘Useless’ opinion
It amazes me the Ms. Dani Stein (Your Views, Tribune-Herald) seemingly fails to realize a few basic facts in her arrogant assessment of the people of Puna affected by the June 7th lava flow.
Well over half the Big Island is made up of Mauna Loa and Kilauea. So I guess most of us living here are living in a lava inundation zone — some of us on very expensive property in very expensive homes.
I wonder if Ms. Stein considered the possibility of Pacific hurricanes, earthquakes or tsunamis in her choice of a place to live. There are no places on Earth that are not subject natural disasters. Her letter to the editor was small-minded, self-important, hurtful and totally useless.
Jay Kelley
Hilo
Others do help
In answer to Rick LaMontagne’s question (Your Views, Tribune-Herald) as to whether any foreign countries offer aid to America in our times of need, the answer is that yes, they do, often with remarkable generosity.
As an example in support of this point, The Heritage Foundation reported in 2011 that following Hurricane Katrina “the United States received a massive outpouring of offers of monetary and other assistance from around the globe.”
Unfortunately, the report continues, of the $854 million pledged by our traditional allies (e.g., United Kingdom), traditional recipients of our foreign aid (e.g., Bangladesh) and some real surprises (e.g., Cuba) much of the assistance was never used “due to U.S. government disinterest or bureaucratic inability to process donations.”
As an example of the generosity of others following Katrina, The Heritage Foundation reported that “Bangladesh offered $1 million and a disaster management team. The monetary aid was accepted, but the disaster management team was ultimately turned down … .”
In absolute terms, Bangladesh’s $1 million wasn’t a lot of money, but in relative terms it was quite spectacular as, in 2005, Bangladesh’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita was $470 and that of the U.S. was $46,350, roughly 99 times greater per capita than that of Bangladesh.
We are a wonderful country, Mr. LaMontagne, but to remain so we must closely examine our current claims of exceptionalism and work harder to see ourselves in the context of the global reality.
Ed Comstock
Hilo