We are in the same canoe | News, Sports, Jobs

A friend who works for the county was using his cell phone to record video of a rally outside the Wailuku State Office Building recently when he found himself surrounded.

“Take off your mask” cried a woman. “It’s a demonstration without a mask, why are you wearing a mask?” “ another asked.

Our friend explained that he had as much right to wear a mask as they did when demonstrating outside. As part of his role, he has since had other interactions with people against mask requirements and vaccine warrants. On Wednesday, he said he received his first death threat.

These types of interactions will be studied by researchers in the decades to come. We are having an oversized experience that will provide endless fodder for case studies in disciplines such as sociology, medicine, politics, economics and religion.

Will University of Hawaii Maui College students in the 2040s be tasked with discerning when and why the aloha spirit died on this island? Will they find that he has succumbed to a local movement, to a new attitude in my own way or to the highway, or that outside influences have played a leading role?

Maui is a live community and lets live for a long time. You do your thing and I will do mine. As long as no one is hurt, we can respect the other’s choices and get along.

This is where the catch lies. Science says vaccines and masks are the main tools in containing the pandemic. So far, 4.55 million people have died from COVID-19 worldwide, with 668,000 deaths in the United States and 80 in Maui County. The Delta variant is fueling breakouts around the world, and new, perhaps even more pesky variants are looming on the horizon. Concerned health experts predict the pandemic could last for years.

The majority of people hear this news and wonder what they can do to protect themselves, their families and their communities. Get a shot? Sure. Wear a mask at the grocery store? OKAY.

And then there are those who see scientists and government leaders as stray Chicken Littles running around screaming, “the sky is falling.” One cannot deny the passion of their convictions nor their right to express them.

No one likes to have their privileges taken away. Suddenly, immunization status decides who can eat inside restaurants and who can play sports in high school. It’s understandable that those who reject vaccines feel harassed, because in many ways they are. Mandates are designed to get them to comply.

It’s too easy to dismiss opinions that don’t match our own, but it’s an island. No matter how much we disagree, we are all in the canoe together. All parties should keep this in mind before making threats.