Changing Hawaii

By Diane Yukihiro Chang

Friday, December 24, 1999

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A Christmas wish
for a soggy Dec. 31

ALL I want for Christmas is one night of rain -- a wet and wild Hawaiian evening of pounding, unrelenting precipitation beginning around 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve and lasting all the way until, oh, about 2-3 o'clock the next morning.

No, my astrological sign isn't Aquarius. Nor am I a farmer concerned about drought conditions ruining my precious crops.

I just want to welcome in the year 2000 by being able to breathe and seeing the wonderful world around me.

If past experience in these islands is any indication, however, that WON'T be possible -- especially if this state's firecracker fans hold true to form.

Watch what happens tomorrow. As soon as the Christmas packages are torn open and the main yuletide meal is digested, covetous thoughts will turn to the purchase of fireworks.

It will be a buying frenzy come Sunday morning, as people of all ages jam the stores to snap up cheap and plentiful bombs, sparklers, spinners and snappers.

Of course, illegal aerials have already been surreptitiously acquired and carefully stored away -- waiting to dance in the sky on New Year's Eve and, no doubt, to land on several neighboring rooftops. Is everybody's home insurance paid up, at least for fire damage?

My prayer for stormy weather is not self-centered. I'll be doing a rain dance for:

Motorists who want to be able to see the roads and highways without being blinded by a dense haze of firecracker smoke.
Pet owners and the noise-sensitive animals themselves, who don't want to hunker down like they're stuck in a war zone.
People with asthma and other health difficulties, or who merely want to get some sleep at a decent hour.
Police and firefighters, tired of responding to 911 calls with dubious ties to revelry and more likened to mayhem.
For folks like Mariette from the Big Island, who called into a local radio talk show earlier this year with her raspy voice barely above a whisper.

"You probably can't understand me very well. I've been sick ever since the fireworks," Mariette struggled to say. "I vomited blood and got high blood pressure. Then I got pneumonia and laryngitis, and now I'm diagnosed with kidney trouble and blood in my urine.

"I don't think I will ever, ever recover from this (wheezing) insane demonstration of New Year's Eve. If they have it again next year, I won't survive. I know it. I'm 80 years old and older people cannot tolerate all this pollution."

THE desire to inhale and exhale without trauma. Is that such an unreasonable request? I don't think so.

But it certainly is selfish, according to at least one online reader who recently sent in a letter to the editor complaining about anti-fireworks types like Mariette.

"Old people with respiratory problems will always suffer from such, no matter what," wrote this critic. "They had their chance to have fun as a young person. But now they want to spoil the fun for everyone else since they're too old or sick to enjoy life. Those grumps.

"If you don't like what fireworks do to your health, then wear a mask in courtesy of those of us who want to have fun on a national holiday."

Like I said, I'm praying for rain. And for more compassion for those who desperately need it.

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Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.