Be kind to each other throughout the year

There is no better time than Easter to reflect on our religious beliefs. We are all children of God, in spite of our differences in religious practices.

People follow different paths in order to find the kingdom of heaven, just like we can either walk, drive a car, ride a bike or catch the bus in order to arrive at the same destination. Respecting other religions and treating each other as kindly and lovingly as your own brothers and sisters should be the essence of all religions.

So, in order to please God, we need to be kind toward each other. Not just during the religious holidays, but during every day of our lives.

Cecilia Graybeal
Honolulu

Bill would empower female rape victims

A recent letter to the editor stated that House Bill 411 and Senate Bill 1109, which would make it mandatory that female rape victims be offered emergency contraception at emergency rooms, would "replace doctor and patient choices" ("Contraception bills unwise," Star-Advertiser, Letters, March 20).

These bills would do exactly the opposite of that.They would make it possible for the rape victim to choose for herself whether she is willing to face the possibility of bearing a child or undergoing an abortion as the result of the attack she has suffered.

Since the choice of which ER to be taken to is not the victim’s, the same level and standard of care must be offered at all facilities.

Hundreds of church-run hospitals on the mainland and in Europe have adopted this and offer emergency contraception to rape victims. Why should Hawaii linger in the dark ages?

Alison Rowland-Ciszek
Kailua

Some tourists like smoking on beaches

The Honolulu City Council just shot another proverbial bullet into our economic foot with its smoking ban on beaches.

Hundreds of other tropical destinations are now celebrating with joy. Hawaii did it again. Tropical pristine destinations all over Southeast Asia, from Thailand and Singapore to Macau, have had their best years ever since we started our smoking bans over the last 10 years.

So much for targeting the exploding middle class of China, India and all of Southeast Asia, who are now traveling like never before, many of whom enjoy tobacco.

This is not the 19th century, when Waikiki was the sole tropical destination on the planet. This is the 21st century, when the Internet has allowed millions of people a glimpse of many other tropical havens just as gorgeous as Hawaii and very smoke-friendly.

It’s obvious that the Council member who introduced this measure flunked Economics 101. Ever heard of competition?

Kawika Crowley
Hilo

Charge fee for people who hike Haiku Stairs

In the past, the illegal trespassing to gain access to the Haiku Stairs, or Stairway to Heaven, was primarily because there was no legal access.

The basic roadways are there and could be fixed to allow public transit relatively easily and not expensively.

If opened to the public, an access fee could and should be charged to cover maintenance and security. Along with the access fee, waivers could be required of visitors so the public would not be liable for any injuries or illnesses suffered as a result of climbing this steep route.

Then this highly popular facility could be returned to public use at no cost to taxpayers and would avoid trespassing on surrounding private property.

This could be a win/win solution to the problems of the past.

James V. Pollock
Kaneohe

Gay parenting still a social experiment

Gay marriage isn’t the real issue.The real issue is whether gay parenting is good for children.

Children are not blank tablets on which we can write whatever we want.There is biological hard-wiring in the brain that makes boys into boys and girls into girls.

Given that, there may be something about having a mom and a dad that helps children develop better.Gay parenting is a social experiment and we have no idea what the long-term outcome will be.

So while it is tempting to say that the gay marriage argument is the same as the interracial marriage argument, the two are really apples and oranges.

Lloyd Lim
Makiki

UH needs to serve its students better

Your editorial ("UH efficiency study a good sign," Star-Advertiser, Our View, March 27) and commentary by Norman Matloff ("Online courses too cursory," Star-Advertiser, March 27) reveal how universities everywhere are trying to address the increasing costs of higher education. They fail to discuss the impact upon students.

Having spent nearly three decades at the University of Hawaii, I found that many students became lost in trying to find their way through the maze of academic requirements and regulations to graduate. Some find needed guidance and assistance from faculty and related staff at the university, but many did not.

At a large research-oriented multiversity such as UH, many students need more personalized help and counseling. Too many departments, colleges and institutes tend to function as self-serving bureaucracies. They must better integrate and coordinate themselves to offer a more coherent and comprehensive concept of knowledge, of their critical interdependency and interrelationships of the many subjects being taught in their classes.

Donald Char
Niu Valley

Labeling advocates on a slippery slope

Why should I have to pay for special food labeling for a small percentage of scientifically illiterate consumers because they have a right to know?

When you can prove to me that GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are harmful, then you can label it whatever way the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires it.

If I have to pay extra for labeling GMOs on the basis of right-to-know, then how about foods fertilized with bacteria-producing chicken manure?It’s my right to know.

To require the added cost of special labeling, monitoring and lab testing for something that has not shown any human or environmental harm for more than 15 years of production, and is being grown on billions of acres around the world, is ridiculous.

If you don’t want to eat GMO-produced food, buy organic.Problem solved.

Don Gerbig
Lahaina, Maui

TSA should let folks bring in water bottles

I can’t believe that the Transportation Security Administration is willing to allow knives on airplanes.

Thousands of knives are confiscated every day. Now knives are OK, but we still have to remove our shoes, belts and jackets and empty our pockets in order to get past security?

Instead of allowing knives, why don’t they allow us to bring water? How many bottles of water are thrown away each day? Millions of dollars are being wasted when we are forced to discard our bottles of water before we go through security. Then we end up going to the airport vendor to buy another bottle of water. The average person does not go and buy a knife every day.

Russell Arikawa
Hilo