07-15-2015, 10:01 AM
several thousands feel they are, again, not being heard.
The book of Ecclesiastes says there is:
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them together
A time to search and a time to stop searching
A time for silence and a time to speak
Protesting the TMT doesn't address the need for Hawaiian Homeland housing, education for a greater number of keiki, (not just the privileged few who now attend Kamehameha Schools), college scholarships, jobs, and some form of political power and recognition. What the TMT issue has done is given Hawaiians the spotlight. Now might be the time to put that attention on issues that will in fact change their lives and their children's lives for the better. In all honesty, I've tried, but I can't see how one telescope more or less on Mauna Kea will affect the Hawaiian people for better or worse by one iota. Housing will. Education will. Homeland self determination will. If those things are important, isn't it time to take the next step?
Some have been fighting telescopes on Mauna Kea for decades
Yes, but sometimes refusing to give up is not patience, and it's not perseverance. It's futility. Republicans have voted unsuccessfully to repeal The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) more than 50 times. They know they don't have the votes even before they cast them, and yet they vote again. Not all actions get you to the place you want to go even if it looks like those in charge are doing something. Sometimes it turns out to be nothing more than talk and meaningless action.
Nobody likes to be told what to do by someone they might consider an outsider. And maybe all it will take is another 2, 3 or 4 decades to defeat the telescopes, it could happen. Then, when each and every observatory is decommissioned, and the protestors come down the mountain, will they drive home to their Hawaiian Homeland homestead, and send their keiki to Kamehameha School the next day? Or will they find out that it wasn't about the TMT, and all they got was no TMT, no home, and no schools, and they're pretty in the same place from which they started a generation ago.
The book of Ecclesiastes says there is:
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them together
A time to search and a time to stop searching
A time for silence and a time to speak
Protesting the TMT doesn't address the need for Hawaiian Homeland housing, education for a greater number of keiki, (not just the privileged few who now attend Kamehameha Schools), college scholarships, jobs, and some form of political power and recognition. What the TMT issue has done is given Hawaiians the spotlight. Now might be the time to put that attention on issues that will in fact change their lives and their children's lives for the better. In all honesty, I've tried, but I can't see how one telescope more or less on Mauna Kea will affect the Hawaiian people for better or worse by one iota. Housing will. Education will. Homeland self determination will. If those things are important, isn't it time to take the next step?
Some have been fighting telescopes on Mauna Kea for decades
Yes, but sometimes refusing to give up is not patience, and it's not perseverance. It's futility. Republicans have voted unsuccessfully to repeal The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) more than 50 times. They know they don't have the votes even before they cast them, and yet they vote again. Not all actions get you to the place you want to go even if it looks like those in charge are doing something. Sometimes it turns out to be nothing more than talk and meaningless action.
Nobody likes to be told what to do by someone they might consider an outsider. And maybe all it will take is another 2, 3 or 4 decades to defeat the telescopes, it could happen. Then, when each and every observatory is decommissioned, and the protestors come down the mountain, will they drive home to their Hawaiian Homeland homestead, and send their keiki to Kamehameha School the next day? Or will they find out that it wasn't about the TMT, and all they got was no TMT, no home, and no schools, and they're pretty in the same place from which they started a generation ago.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves