[ OUR OPINION ]
A nation celebrates
a tradition of sharingFOR MANY Hawaii families, Thanksgiving is bittersweet because when the holiday comes around next year, their kin will be serving their country in Iraq, Afghanistan or somewhere else far away from home. For others whose loved ones already are gone, the absence sharpens the significance of this day of celebrating all for which we are grateful.
The nation's conflicts will send thousands of Hawaii's citizen soldiers as well as regular troops to war zones. Earlier this week, the Hawaii Army National Guard announced that 200 members of the 193rd Aviation Charlie Company have been alerted for duty. Based at Wheeler Army Air Field, the group includes flight crews, fuel loaders and others, most of whom aren't full-time guardsmen.
Nearly 8,400 soldiers could leave the islands next year, with 4,900 expected to head to Iraq or Afghanistan. Among them are 390 Hawaii-based members of the Pacific Army Reserve 411th Engineer Battalion, 4,500 from the 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division and 3,500 from the 25th Division's 3rd Brigade.
They will face the complexities of duties in Iraq as senior Army officers warn that troop rotations may present a great risks through the transition. The rotations are set to take place between February to May when more than 105,000 troops will replace the current deployment of about 130,000, described as the largest U.S. troop movement in such a time frame since World War II.
Although in recent days, attacks on American forces have declined, the number of deaths through November have been high. Sixteen died when their Chinook helicopter was shot down, 17 when two Black Hawk helicopters collided while two others were shot last Sunday. In all, 434 service members have died since the start of the war.
Still, American resilience places an optimistic face on the holiday. There is good news as the national and state economies, dampened by 9/11, regain some strength. The federal government reported an annual 8.2 percent growth rate for in the third quarter, a pace unlikely to be sustained but solid nonetheless. In the islands, economists are predicting that construction will fuel remarkable progress through the next 10 years while tourism up-ticks to pre-9/11 levels.
The auspicious signs, however, cannot erase the fact that there are many among us who are needy. Employment remains stagnant as growth has yet to generate the millions of jobs that have disappeared since 2000. Homelessness in the islands has doubled to more than 6,000 people since 1999 and around the world, 1 in 7 people or more than 840 million go hungry day after day.
So today when the turkey, adobo, kim chee and poke are passed around the table, the sustenance is symbolic of gratitude for the sum of our good fortune -- our precious freedoms, our families and friends, our beauteous islands --all of which is incomplete unless shared.
