‘Shrink our fear’
As a child, I was told a dragon collected water in the sky and sprinkled it down to Earth to make rain.
I was born in a village in the north of Vietnam in 1946. Tu Chau Village was surrounded and protected with thick, huge bamboo hedges. Red brick paths wandered through the village, not wide enough for automobiles. I never saw one until age 9, when we left the village to move south.
In my world, no science, no scientists, never heard of astronauts — just water buffaloes, endless rice fields, tons of myths, superstition and ghost stories.
As an adult now with a college education and years of searching and discovering, I feel I am but a speck of dust in the vast universe — yet somehow this makes me feel peaceful. This is what science does for humanity — clarify, explain, help us to understand where we are in the order of things.
Science expands our minds. We could use the universe as a metaphor for our mind — keep this mind open, and we see it expand to infinity. Keep this mind shut, and we are back to prehistoric time with fear of the unknown.
Science connects us. The moon landing was watched by an estimated 600 million people around the world. World scientists share their discoveries. Scientific discoveries offer inspiration and hope for humanity.
War and struggle are born of fear. The more I have come to understand this universe, the greater is my comprehension of the interconnectedness of all things.
What if we look at the Thirty Meter Telescope as a sanctuary, a synagogue, a mosque, a shrine? Our scientists as priests, priestesses, kahuna, communicating with the cosmos, contacting the unknown?
All mountains are sacred, all rivers, all oceans, forests, marshes and deserts. This Earth is holy.
We were born with endless curiosity and thirst for knowledge. I say, build this 30-, 40-, 50- or 100-meter telescope! And shrink our collective fear.
Phan Nguyen Barker
Volcano
Wimpy Ige
Gov. David Ige is a spineless wimp!
He knows the Thirty Meter Telescope is good for Hawaii and for Hawaiians, yet refuses to enforce state laws against the illegal blockage of the Maunakea Access Road.
The governor knows the observatory will be beneficial to our economy and to Hawaii’s reputation as a leader in astronomy and science, yet he lacks the courage to stand up to the protesters and their enablers, who think opposition to TMT will somehow correct past injustices to Hawaiians.
The TMT has spent nearly a million dollars to provide scholarships for Big Island students to pursue college degrees that will prepare them for hundreds of high-paying, quality jobs at TMT and other observatories (Tribune-Herald, Oct. 12).
The protesters, whose righteous grievances have been addressed by Mayor Harry Kim’s “Heart of Aloha” plan, have wrongly tied their legitimate concerns to non-negotiable opposition to the TMT. They are hurting their own futures, helping to further the exodus of their own children to seek quality jobs on the mainland, and furthering the image of Hawaii as a banana republic opposed to science that is economically dependent only on tourism and military spending.
John Lockwood
Hilo
