I’m thankful for ability to enjoy life

I’m thankful for my life because I almost died.

I’m thankful for friends and family because they are there for me to give me oxygen.

I’m thankful for my health insurance because they take care of my bills.

I’m thankful I can again enjoy the sun, the moon and stars.

I’m thankful that I can enjoy and spend some time with my neighbor and be able to talk story.

I’m thankful that I can see, walk and talk and be able to think and enjoy Thanksgiving.

Halona Kauholo
Waimanalo

Adoption is a blessing for entire families

National Adoption Day on Nov. 23 gives me another reason to feel blessed during this season of gratitude.

National Adoption Day, traditionally celebrated on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, is a day when people across the United States come together to finalize adoptions of children and celebrate the families who adopt.

This time three years ago, my husband and I were on our way to the Philippines to bring our son home. Our dream to be parents became a reality with the assistance of the wonderful staff at Hawaii International Child. Evan has been a blessing and I can’t image my life without him.

His adoption was finalized on Adoption Day 2012, with Judge R. Mark Browning reaffirming our forever family.

Vilma Atiburcio
Mililani

Courage of parents changed my life

Both of my parents are immigrants. It matters not their country of birth. What does matter is their courageous decision, for which I am thankful, to leave the country of their birth to venture across the Pacific Ocean to an unfamiliar land. The promise of wealth and better way of life was enticement enough to overcome the fear of the unknown and discomfort of sailing in steerage class.

My appreciation for their extreme sacrifice and subsequent hardship during the infancy period of the Hawaii sugar plantation era can never be expressed adequately.

The unique geographical location of the island chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is another thing to be thankful for. With the many different cultures living in harmony and sharing bits of ethnic food, games and the fusion of words to create "pidgin," it is a world rich in its own culture.

The Hawaii today may not be the Hawaii of my youth because of the additional new blend of cultures, but it still enables us to live in harmony. What great wealth we have attained — the more reason to be thankful for our unprecedented Hawaii.

Bea H. Ganzagan
Waipahu

Son taught us how to be appreciative

Life. Health. Family. Sometimes we don’t know how fortunate we are until a loved one is taken away, or a medical condition develops. Then we appreciate.

Our son Daniel used to say, "Mom, if you want to feel rich, think of everything you have that money can’t buy." And then we lost Daniel in a hiking accident in 2003 in Nuuanu at age 19. Daniel also used to say, adapted from Robert Bly, "You can grumble that roses have thorns, or rejoice that thorns have roses."

I am saying thanks to Daniel for showing us to appreciate what we have — to be alive, to be healthy, to have family and friends.

Joyce Cassen
Aina Haina

Grateful for Hawaii’s many blessings

Living in Hawaii is one of the greatest blessings in the world. Period. Watching the news on TV and reading about it validates our blessings big time.

Best weather on the planet! The kaleidoscope of colors, beautiful flowers, diversified culture that surrounds us, the exotic faces of our children — the "aloha spirit" that gives us chicken skin or, as I call it, "a healing moment." We are more alike than different. And it’s a blessing that nourishes our mind, body and soul. So Thanksgiving for us is every day. Period!

Mary Siegert
Aiea

Isles set an example for our country

I am thankful for being a part of this little speck in the middle of nowhere that stands for aloha, fairness and understanding and has given so much of itself to its country in so short a time.

May the freshness of our tradewinds inherent in our people continue to cool, nourish and guide our national temperament.

Aloha no.

Richard Y. Will
Waikiki

It’s hard to imagine a world that’s better

What am I thankful for?

I’m a newly diagnosed heart-valve repair patient.

That means I will undergo a valve-replacement open heart surgery, soon.

Yet right now, I have no symptoms. But if I don’t have this procedure, I am not expected to survive another year. And the procedure is risky; I might not survive it. There must be hundreds of others here in Hawaii who have received this kind of diagnosis.

So right now, I’m thankful just to be breathing.

To wake up each day and be able to go for my routine morning walk and swim without passing out.

To have my husband, family and friends surround me with their love.

To enjoy the beauty of Hawaii nei and I only have to go outside and open my eyes.

To hear the music of nature all around me … and I don’t mind a little slack key guitar either.

To dream about a better world … no, wait. How could it get any better than this?

Kerstin Lampert
Kapolei

Blessed by students, teachers and staff

I have had the privilege of working as a substitute teacher in Oahu’s Central District for more than 20 years. Having taught on every grade level, from preschoolers to high school seniors, with a total of four years dedicated to long-term assignments, it has been my pleasure to watch literally thousands of children as they began school, then grew and developed while negotiating the grades all the way to graduation and beyond.

Some have later even returned to greet me as teachers and educational aides.

Although blessed with good health, travel, interesting endeavors and opportunities beyond measure, nothing has brought more joy and satisfaction to my life than this time with the students, parents and staff of the schools in which I have worked these many years.

As I approached my 80th Thanksgiving, it is for these many associations and relationships and the ongoing pleasure they bring me that I am most thankful. To all my students, both past and present, I thank you for the lessons you have taught me and the added meaning you have brought to my life.

Richard Bacher
Wahiawa

FROM THE FORUM

“Schofield patrol maintains proper decorum on base,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 25:
>> The U.S. Army has been in the Middle East for too long. Now they’re importing Islamic-type “morality police” into the U.S. What’s next, requiring women to wear burquas in public? This is Hawaii, not Afghanistan.
>> It’s good to know they are off a combat footing and are able to refocus on the mundane again.
———
“Nanakuli library project advances,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 25:
>> About time. If the east side had asked for it, it would have been done yesterday.
>> Long overdue.
———
“UH puts building projects on ice,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 26:
>> It’s about time. The dates they give for how long maintenance has been deferred only go back to when it was “officially” identified as needing maintenance. In reality, some of these buildings have been neglected for several decades.
>> If the University of Hawaii Board of Regents wants to proceed with 13 new buildings, including the unneeded and wasteful Daniel K. Inouye building, then they clearly don’t know what the word “moratorium” means.
———
“Steadfast advocate for peace and aina,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 26:
>> A very sad day for Hawaii. Jean King was a decent, loving , personable human being who always looked out for others.
>> Jean King was a wonderful woman whose compassion was unmatched. Quiet but always there when you needed her. She will be remembered and missed.
———
“Contract expired, pigs left to wreck city site,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 27:
>> The insanity of this pig business is too much. It takes your breath away. Over $1,000 to catch per pig and throwing them away after 20-mile drive to the dump. Those responsible for this program should be thrown out of their jobs. No wonder our taxes are sky high and yet there is a gaping deficit.
>> Hopefully the pigs can be used as food. It seems like such a waste to kill them and bury them.
>> Why won’t the city issue limited trapping licenses to hunters who would gladly do it free?
———
“Teams face ax if fiscal troubles continue,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 27:
>> Each sporting program within the University of Hawaii complex should be required to generate its own income. Sporting programs that cannot generate the income needed to operate should simply be put out to pasture.
I hate to say it but those days of gravy trains are over. If a team cannot generate enough income through ticket sales, etc., it can try the old ways of generating income such as bake sales and other benefits. They can team up with local television stations to ask for donations. I am sure the sports departments that benefit a lot from local sports will step in and offer their help for no fee. Our university should be for academic learning foremost, not a farm to feed the pro sporting leagues, etc.
>> The reality is, can we support all these sports or not? No, we can’t. And if football keeps losing, we may be doomed.
>> Time to give Stevie Wonder another call.
———
“Niihau owner wants nonresident fishermen banned,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 28:
>> We will never learn from the old ways of “take only what you can eat.” So they will overfish our oceans and overbuild our mountains and the “take it all” attitude will continue. No one understands the balance of living Hawaiians had once. Just bulldozed over us all for profit, political and otherwise. We are not victims, just part of the ongoing sacrifices.
>> I hope the people of Niihau receive the help that is needed to protect their way of life that has been practiced throughout their life.
>> Time to quit eating fish; all should be vegetarians, statistically proven to be the best diet — fruits, grains, nuts and vegetables.
———
“New bipartisan caucus aims to get young voters involved,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 29:
>> Just have publicly financed elections. When politicians don’t have to spend a lot of their time fund-raising, more candidates.
———
“Shoppers relish their early start,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 29:
>> Some people just like the adrenaline and excitement. Personally, I think they are crazy.
>> Maybe instead of buying toys, they could pay for their own preschool costs without tax subsidies.

Readers of the Star-Advertiser’s online edition can respond to stories posted there. The following are some of those. Instead of names, pseudonyms are generally used online. They have been removed.