To launch the holiday season, we asked readers to share what they’re thankful for. Many wrote in, with heartfelt stories and blessings — today, we share a collection with you. Our thanks go out to our readers: Each and every day, we celebrate the diverse backgrounds and beliefs of us all.

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Thanks to God, great country

Being thankful can be taken from many different angles. All of us probably are very thankful to experience another beautiful day in paradise. There are those who are thankful for a country that has served us for more than 243 years. Still others are thankful to those who have either paid the ultimate price, are still paying a price or have admirably served the rest of us through their love of country.

In addition to all that, I am thankful for my family, my friends and those I don’t always agree with. I’m thankful for the trials in my life, and my time in the military, that taught me extremely important lessons and to appreciate everything.

Most importantly, I am thankful to a loving and caring God. Amen.

Don Clark

Aiea

 

Continue spirit of gratitude

It is the celebration of Thanksgiving once a year, as with many other annual celebrations, that give it a special place in our hearts.

Thanksgiving still remains a beautiful moment and appropriate opportunity to give thanks for blessings and wonders present every day, if we take the time and effort to see and appreciate them — especially in our families, friends and neighbors.

I would also like to extend my thanks to the Star-Advertiser for continuing with the beautiful and giving avenue of positive social media by which readers can relate heart-warming and priceless examples and accounts of our aloha for each other.

May we all continue the spirit and simple essence of giving thanks and of Thanksgiving.

Sam Hashimoto

Mililani

 

Mahalo to our first responders

Firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical services, the Coast Guard and lifeguards are some of our first responders who serve and protect our community. In fact, during this holiday season, they are at work 24/7.

Mahalo to our men and women of our first-responder ohana. We appreciate your dedication and service.

Scott Kamiya

Chinatown

 

America special to immigrant

Being an immigrant to America will be my most sincere gratitude for this coming Thanksgiving year 2019. I arrived here in Hawaii with a pair of pants in 1968 from the Philippines. I worked hard earning a minimal wage, bought a house, raised a family and sent my three children to the university. Thanks to God, all of them have graduated, have a good job and all of them are working for the government of America.

Thank you, America, for bringing people, legally, to come and live in the land of opportunity and promise, especially in Hawaii where we could enjoy the tropical beauty and live with its diverse people.

Mario Orbito

Pauoa

 

New resident feels spirit of aloha

Aloha is what I have experienced daily in the short four months that I have lived on this island. We relocated here from the mainland for my husband’s job and left behind many family and friends. Everywhere I go, people show such kindness and welcome me with open arms.

I appreciate the acceptance from the people in the class and the church I have joined. We don’t know what our future holds or how long we may live here, but I will carry the love of this island and its people in my heart forever. I’m so thankful that life led us to our new ohana and home on Oahu.

Rose Pinsonneault

Mililani

 

Cancer survivors cherish lives

Even though we are both in our 70s and cancer survivors, my husband Miles and I are healthy and energetic now. I appreciate our lives!

Even though our grown children and grandchildren are so busy, we stay connected and support each other. I appreciate our ohana!

Even though our natural environment is being destroyed worldwide, Hawaii is still so beautiful.

I appreciate the aina.

Even though our world is full of hate and violence, Hawaii still has diversity, tolerance and aloha.

I appreciate our local culture!

Even though the daily news can be sad and scary, our SGI Buddhist community encourages us to chant Nam myoho renge kyo for inner peace and for world peace. I appreciate our faith!

Even though we are opposites, Miles and I celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary on Thanksgiving Day. I appreciate our love!

Pat Nakanishi

Pearl City

 

Pure, sweet water is great gift

I am thankful for water. It is clean, plentiful, vital and beautiful. I can have all the water I want. I can drink it, cook, bathe, grow things. Water is a great gift and I cherish it and am thankful to live in a place where water is so sweet and available.

Connie Oliva

Kailua

 

Blessed with wife, church, ohana

I am thankful for the 53 years of having a loving and supportive wife. I am thankful that I’m able to love and appreciate a retired life with my wife. I am thankful for having a warm and caring family, and circle of friends that I can always depend on for watching my back.

I am thankful for having a church where I can worship openly with my church ohana. I am thankful for being born and raised in the greatest nation in the world. As I look around and see the anarchy, violence and brutality, I am thankful for a country where I can choose to worship freely. I’m thankful for the means to support my family and others less fortunate than I.

I pray that if possible, my life can humbly be a positive influence on others. I am thankful for the Star-Advertiser giving me the opportunity to express and share my thankfulness.

Stanford Kanehiro

Waikiki

 

Let’s also remember those who are struggling, alone

The holidays are a time for thanksgiving and spending time with friends, family and loved ones. For too many of our kupuna and ohana, this is not the case. Many families are struggling each day to make ends meet, and many are alone or homeless.

Let’s join our neighbors in the spirit of lokahi to help those who are less fortunate and most vulnerable to make sure they are not alone. Although we have already made a difference in the lives of many, there are still those facing overwhelming challenges, and they rely on a little helping hand to get back to work and back on their feet. Let’s show them that someone cares.

Many are struggling due to circumstances beyond their control. These can lead to significant financial challenges and increased demand for limited services and program resources. We need to ensure every effort possible is done to provide families with the essentials and a better quality of life. To quote John Rockefeller, “Think of giving not as a duty, but as a privilege.”

William Anonsen

Kapiolani

 

Nature’s wonders remind of world’s many blessings

I’m grateful for mornings, when the beauty of a tangerine globe emerging from the eastern sky, welcomes anticipation of a perfect day!

Initially shocked when the loud clap of a thunderstorm coats your arms with goosebumps, then fades away and leaves behind an appreciative quietness like checking on a babe in slumber.

The flashing of a lemonade lightning makes the heart skips a beat, but soaring above the heavens the spirit is grateful for having witnessed the glorious, mysterious works of our Creator!

My thankfulness is all that heaven allows. It’s being alive in a world still hopefully worth saving. A timeless gratitude of God’s goodness and His endless blessings!

Bea Ganzagan

Waipahu

 

An abundance of thanks for all that is ours, in oneness

We are one — thank you.

I am thankful for my students, for sunshine, for love, for growth.

For new beginnings, friendships, upholding my obligations to others.

I am thankful for goals, and those around me who continually strive to uplift me. I am thankful to Hawaii, Hawaiian culture, and the sharing of lessons learned from this place despite the dark history of Western colonization in these islands.

I am thankful for community, basketball leagues, poetry nights, and my health.

I am thankful for great books that send my mind to glorious places, allowing me to fly.

I am thankful for movies and plays that give me creative stimulation.

Art is forever, and that people do not forget how you made them feel.

I am thankful for my physical, spiritual, educational, professional, financial, social and emotional strengths that transcend the highest peaks.

I am thankful for you, yes … you … reading this now. Because we are one.

Charles M. Clausner

Educator, Saint Louis School

 

Success of former pupils warms heart of teacher

So thankful to be able to see again, after almost 30 years, some of my former students from Waialua High at a recent luncheon get-together. It was wonderful to see them all grown up and now successful contributors to our community. Certainly made me so proud of them all.

As a retired educator, this get- together was actually one of the most satisfying experiences of my life.

Frank Terrazas Jr.

Salt Lake

 

Physical ailments bring focus on many positives

God is amazing! As I sit here injured for many months now, I count my many blessings. Although physically limited I am ever so grateful for the reduction in stress being out of the rat race for a few months, grateful for the additional time with my daughter who drove me to and from appointments, and the opportunity to spend more time in the Word and getting ever closer to the One who created me.

I am thankful for my eyes that see, my heart that beats, my ears that hear, even though my foot and leg aren’t working so well.

Take time to smell the paper roses your child gives to you, to feel the wind in your face and to see the sunrise each day. Oh, what a blessing it is! Have an attitude of gratitude! It makes life so much more fun!

Debra Lambert

Kaneohe

 

Grandparents, parents enable living of best life

I am thankful for my family most of all. Without them, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. My father and mother continuously work hard to provide a roof over my head and keep food in my stomach. I am thankful to live in a country where I have freedom and have the ability to achieve all my goals as long as I work hard for it. I am thankful for my happiness and everyone who gives me happiness. My nephews and niece who drive me insane but I wouldn’t give them up for the world.

I’m thankful for having the ability to attend college and get a higher education, to one day become a nurse and spread goodness. I’m thankful for the wisdom that I have been given by my family, especially my grandparents. Most of all I am thankful to be alive and living my best life.

Brooke-Lyn Woolsey

Waianae

 

Senior’s routine dinners with family are special

I’m an 88-year-old who lives alone, but walks a short distance to have dinner with daughter and son-in-law. The meal ends with each of us saying: 1) high spots of the day; 2) low spot; 3) for what are we most grateful. This practice helps keep my brain in gear, slowing down forgetfulness.

Daily reading of your newspaper helps, too! Yes, I am a wahine (elderly woman). Lucky to have love.

Sylvia C. Mitchell

Mililani

 

Mahalo to God, America, Ewa Beach, TheBus drivers

Thank you God: for America.

For the awesome rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner on the “CBS Morning News.” My heart always swells with pride whenever I hear our national anthem.

For Ewa Beach. I love living here.

For TheBus and the courteous, patient drivers who work for the bus company.

V. Aiko Yoshimura

Ewa Beach

 

Cancer survivor thankful for sons, seeing grandkids

I’m so thankful that I was able to monitor my three young boys from the time they were young until they were able to pursue their education, and now, they’re on their own. They used to get mad at me and say that I am mean, but in spite of the discipline I gave them, they followed me anyway.

I’m very thankful also because I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 48. Now I’m already 74. I thought at that time I will never be able to see my nine grandchildren. But, the Lord is so good because one lady prayed for me, that the Lord has a plan in my life, and I’ll follow the plan he has for me and I’ll will live. So now I’m still here to relate my heartfelt thanks that I will never forget.

Trina Parubrub Pascual

Moanalua

 

Diverse opinions in letters truly celebrate free speech

With the holiday season in full swing, it is an appropriate time to express my thanks for the portion of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser I read first, even prior to the Sports section: the Letters to the Editor. While I may not always agree with them, I do enjoy every letter, and sometimes I may even learn something.

Whether a writer believes that President Donald Trump is the Second Coming or the anti-Christ, their letters will be printed if well-written. If someone posits that the Thirty Meter Telescope is a desecration of the mauna or a marvelous continuation of Hawaiian exploration, it will find print as long as the argument is well-made.

Special kudos to the staffers who turn the letters submitted into readable language. Letters to the Editor are the ultimate example of freedom of the press and free speech.

John Priolo

Pearl City

 

Goodness of people brings hope into the lives of many

I am thankful for the beauty of Hawaii and for the people who call this wonderful place home. I am thankful for the friendliness that is shown in the spirit of aloha to me.

I am also thankful for the generous support from many sources that helps us every day to make a positive difference in the lives of others. When there are some around us who seem to have no hope, I am thankful for the ways our work begins to bring hope into their lives. Every time I visit one of our drug and alcohol treatment programs on the island, my heart is filled with thankfulness when I see the hope now in the eyes of both a mother and a child who now can see a way out of their seemingly hopeless situation.

I am thankful to God, because He makes it possible for us to be there, and for our supporters to continue to deliver the resources that make hope possible.

Maj. Jeff Martin

Divisional leader, The Salvation Army-Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Division