HAPPINESS

WESTERN SOCIETIES CAN LEARN FROM BHUTAN

Thanks for Mike Gordon's story, "A Portrait of Happiness" (Nov. 5).

His heartwarming review of Maui filmmaker Tom Vendetti's new picture, "Taking the Middle Path to Happiness," beautifully relates how the people of Bhutan express a near-universal life contentment that's mirrored in their government's replacement of gross domestic product with gross domestic happiness as the measure of national progress.

"Happiness" is a relative concept, and the Bhutanese satisfaction with their simple life results in large part from deep cultural traditions that discourage acquisitiveness and flaunting of material possessions.

Contrast this with the "modern" world, where progress is measured by the number of toys and conveniences people are surrounded by, and you get the core of Vendetti's film.

"Relativity" matters here because rural Bhutanese society's economic homogeneity provides few images to inspire the chase for affluence. Their character is centered around the Buddhist value of "metta" (literally, "loving kindness"), which binds the social solidarity of the community, or "sangha." On the other hand, the drastic inequality that marks the developed world acts as a vicious cycle, employing the lowest human emotions of greed and envy to foment competition for resources, ending in ever greater inequality and relative poverty.

The challenge for Western society is to evolve a synthesis of the two systems that can survive the economically induced climate change that could reduce human populations to pre-industrial levels. I can think of no better model for this than the Himalayan Buddhists, whose happiness is based on their ultimately sustainable culture.

SCHOOL ATHLETICS

STATE, CITY ARE WORKING TOGETHER ON GAME SITES

This is in response to the Nov. 9 letter, "Let schools use city sites for 'home' games."

Contrary to the writer's impression, Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the city are working closely with the Department of Education to allow use of city property by our state's public schools.

Due to liability concerns, the Legislature passed Act 152, which requires the state to accept full liability and to indemnify the counties whenever the state uses county property. To ensure agreement and the provision of insurance to cover the state's liability, the state must first compile and approve a comprehensive list of such uses.

In this effort, the mayor, governor, state comptroller and attorney general have all worked cooperatively to facilitate and expedite state use of county properties under provisions of the law.

The DOE is grateful to the City & County of Honolulu for its assistance and ongoing support of athletics and other departmental events on county property.

WAI'ANAE

O'AHU'S LANDFILL LOCATED IN THE WRONG PLACE

O'ahu's landfill, the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill, is in the wrong place. Our people from Wai'anae have tolerated enough of feeling like we are trash, let alone having the smell and to have to see it every time they go out or in to Wai'anae, Nanakuli, Ma'ili and Makaha.

I lived there all my life until I moved to the Big Island, and I don't want to see my hometown look like that everytime I come home. Shame on you, Mufi.

LOSS OF BAND PROGRAM SHORTCHANGES STUDENTS

It was with such sadness that I watched the Wai'anae-Leilehua OIA football game on Nov. 9, knowing that the band program at Wai'anae High School is being dropped in January. No Child Left Behind and extra math classes were given as reasons, very unfair reasons, to the students at Wai'anae High School who want to take band.

I was a band student in 1986, and our band was not well- known like Pearl City or Moanalua. We had only 50 or so students, but that band class gave me an opportunity to attend the University of Hawai'i for free. Music scholarships are more plentiful than athletic ones, and now that is a chance lost for students at Wai'anae High who excel in band.

I cannot express what I feel is a big mistake on the part of the Wai'anae High School administration, as well as the complex area superintendent and, ultimately, School Superintendent Pat Hamamoto for allowing this to happen.

Once again, the Wai'anae community is being shortchanged in the education of its students.

NIU VALLEY

WALDORF SCHOOL ISSUE MUST MOVE FORWARD

My only child attends the Honolulu Waldorf School because she was not getting an appropriate education in Hawai'i public schools. The decision came at significant sacrifice as I am a single parent.

Honolulu Waldorf School is asking the Circuit Court to uphold a permit issued by the city, which set up conditions. After neighbors filed an appeal, members of the Zoning Board of Appeals recused themselves and were not replaced in the allotted time, therefore the permit should have been honored.

The school is not asking for monetary compensation, just to be able to abide by the permit. The only way for them to have the original permit honored is to go through the Circuit Court. This is a case where a minority of the neighbors are making lots of noise and stopping a process that should have moved forward.

Have they petitioned at Niu Middle School or the preschool on Mahimahi and Ulua streets? Both schools have more street traffic, noise and kids running in the street than Waldorf. We seem to be a target at Waldorf, and we are not getting a fair shake.

DISGRACE

FLAG DISRESPECTED AT ISLE VETERANS CEMETERY

On Veteran's Day, I went to the Hawai'i State Veterans Cemetery in Kane'ohe to see my dad, who was a veteran of World War II and made his career in the Army.

We were shocked when we saw the American flag being taken off a pole and thrown in the back of the maintenance truck.

It showed no respect to the men and women who fought to keep this country from harm against the enemy.

I cannot believe they allow this to happen. How long would it take to fold the flag and place it neatly?

This is a disgrace and should not be tolerated.

It hurts to see that the American flag is just a piece of material to some Americans.