Editorial:

Something to Thank For

On this day of Thanksgiving, we have many things to thank for despite the grim statistics of our lives.

One of every five children is poor. Many more are falling in the cracks of our uneven economic lives, with the number of those unable to access basic social services increasing each day.

There is a widespread discontent among Americans.

And in the streets of Manhattan that lead to the citadel of commerce and capital, the famed Wall Street, there is uproar on what has become of our iniquitous lives.

             

The main motive of the pilgrims, the pioneering peregrines of our immigrant lives in this country, is the search for a better life, one marked by quality, not mere quantity (read: the possession of even the most unnecessary).

It is a life marked by freedom and liberty. 

It is a life marked by respect for life—one’s own and another’s.

             

It is a life marked by abundance, not by want, deprivation, dispossession.

             

On Thanksgiving Day, this is all what it means: a return to the basics of our life as a people in the United States of America--United in our diversity, united in our struggles, and united in our need to reclaim the very essence of our collective life—our union despite the odds.

            

We have so much to thank for despite the challenges that we see each day.

            

We have so much to thank for despite the increasing number of the homeless on our streets in Hawaii.

             

We have so much to thank for despite the need to take stock of what else we need to do so that next year, our Thanksgiving Day will be a bit better, more joyous, more bountiful.

             

Like the peregrines of old, we need to come to the table again, and with a thankful heart, remember that there is much to give even as there is much to ask for.

_______________________

Hurrah to the Consul General

             

We join the Filipino American community in thanking the Honorable Consul General Leoncio Cardenas for his years of service as a foreign affairs officer in the name of the people of the Philippines.

             

His coming to Hawaii for the second time is his way of coming full circle with his passion and dedication for the homeland of the immigrant Filipinos of Hawaii.

             

Even as we bid him adieu, we will always remember the work that he has done for our communities, his engagement with our various civic organizations, and his abiding and inspiring presence in the many things that matter to us.

We say, saludos, Apo Leoncio Cardenas! Agbiagka! Mabuhay ka! Long live!