Mark Platte proposed his thoughts about the "reckless New Year's celebrations" in the Honolulu Advertisers opinion column January 17, 2010. The Legislature is having a hard time enacting a law to make some fireworks illegal because residents in Hawaii are split 50/50 on the matter. In the article Mark Platte compares the situation to the smoking ban in 2006 and the new city law prohibiting hand-held devices while driving. Apparently, nothing has been done about the disturbances on New Years though.
"Even if there is a 50-50 split, does that mean that the rights of the half who want to make noise, pollute the air, frighten and annoy residents and pets and potentially endanger others trump the rights of the half who don't want to be bothered by these reckless celebrations?"
Clearly the people who want firework use limited or banned have some good reasoning. Sure its the New Year a time to party, but maybe some families are trying to put their kids to sleep, and all the sound the fireworks create becomes a nuisance all night. Residents also make a good point about the environment. Fireworks DO create a lot of pollution and could start fires, harming people and animals. There were no points listed by residents who wanted to KEEP fireworks, but I'm sure its because its a tradition of the New Years and it is fun. Can you think of other reasons?
How do you think the legislature will decide on what to do ? Does the 50/50 split matter or do you think they'll do what THEY, meaning the Legislature, think is best? I think a possible solution could be having designated areas to light your own fireworks instead of wherever you find an open area in your neighborhood.
What's taking so long ?
Mark mentions that the smoking ban in 2006 took two DECADES to enact, and the new city law prohibiting hand-held appliances while driving didn't require much time or study to make official. So what's the wait with banning fireworks? "Apparently the injuries to 112 people this New Year's, half of them children and the highest total since records were kept a decade ago, has made no impact on lawmakers." The number of people dead from reckless celebrations on New Years is unbelievable. I wasn't aware of any of this until after reading the article. Everyone loves watching fireworks but would you love to see someone die as an effect of your fun? I don't think so. I'm not saying fireworks are a horrible thing to do but obviously something needs to be fixed, and no that doesn't mean wait till the New Year "rolls around again" to deal with the problem.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Honestly, I'm not quite sure what my culture is; its not one specific culture. The only tradition that's been the same my whole life is from my mom's Spanish side. On new years we each have 12 grapes and when the clock gets to 12 seconds left in the year we try to eat them all before the new year. Every grape you eat symbolizes a month of good luck in the new year.
In the reading it says Culture is learned by every person born into a society as part of the enculturations process. Having not grown up in the same place my whole life, everywhere I've lived i picked up traditions and they have become apart of me. For example before i lived in Japan, i didn't eat much Japanese food, use chopsticks, take off shoes at the front door, slightly bow when you greet people, or speak any of the language. The style there is very different, too. After living there for a while its kind of hard to change back to your old ways. The reading defines the process of making traits of other cultures a part of your own culture as acculturation. I'm not saying I'm Japanese now, but I've become accustomed to some of their traditions.
Moving to Hawaii this summer after being away from the U.S. for 5 years was kind of strange at first, a completely new lifestyle; i felt somewhat like a foreigner. Even the school has a different "culture" you could say; a lot more kids and different style, way of speaking (slippers, chee, ect.), dresscode, and discipline. There's still lots about Hawaii's cultures and traditions i dont know and will probably experience while living here. For starters I dance hula now.
What I'm trying to say is I don't think you have to be a certain ethnicity to practice their cultures. Culture isn't based on race its what makes up YOU. Everyone has different beliefs and practices. Sure in a family there might be some traditions practiced together but not all beliefs are the same. Everyone's culture is unique, and everyone's culture is always changing or being influenced in someway.
In the reading it says Culture is learned by every person born into a society as part of the enculturations process. Having not grown up in the same place my whole life, everywhere I've lived i picked up traditions and they have become apart of me. For example before i lived in Japan, i didn't eat much Japanese food, use chopsticks, take off shoes at the front door, slightly bow when you greet people, or speak any of the language. The style there is very different, too. After living there for a while its kind of hard to change back to your old ways. The reading defines the process of making traits of other cultures a part of your own culture as acculturation. I'm not saying I'm Japanese now, but I've become accustomed to some of their traditions.
Moving to Hawaii this summer after being away from the U.S. for 5 years was kind of strange at first, a completely new lifestyle; i felt somewhat like a foreigner. Even the school has a different "culture" you could say; a lot more kids and different style, way of speaking (slippers, chee, ect.), dresscode, and discipline. There's still lots about Hawaii's cultures and traditions i dont know and will probably experience while living here. For starters I dance hula now.
What I'm trying to say is I don't think you have to be a certain ethnicity to practice their cultures. Culture isn't based on race its what makes up YOU. Everyone has different beliefs and practices. Sure in a family there might be some traditions practiced together but not all beliefs are the same. Everyone's culture is unique, and everyone's culture is always changing or being influenced in someway.
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