Gilding the Pill

Feeding the 5,000
M. Duke (left)

Kitty Look Out! A Giant Mouse!

OOOO A Rainbow!

Bye Santa-

"For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once daily. People even more than things have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed. Never throw out anybody. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows."

- Audrey Hepburn's 'Beauty Secrets'

"The river looked at Siddhartha with a thousand eyes. . . it seemed to him that whoever understood this river and it's secrets, would understand much more, many secrets, all secrets." - Herman Hesse

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case you lose by default." - J. K. Rowling

"Life is a pill which none of us can bear to swallow without gilding; yet for the poor we delight in stripping it still barer."

Dr. Johnson

Street outreach worker, Sharon Black, has fed the hungry people of Honolulu's streets for many years. Her Kau Kau ('food') Wagon provides meals every Saturday at a little park we used to call the "Gateway to Chinatown." Yesterday was her annual Christmas meal for all that would come. Out of her "little" Mz. Black has provided this bounty (top picture) by appealing to restaurants, hotels, and kind individuals throughout our community. Even with my own background as a street outreach worker in these same streets, I had never met the lady face to face . . . till yesterday. I brought my flute to play, saw many familiar faces to wish "happy holidays" to, and ended up holding the leash for one of Sharon's giant Great Danes (a licensed therapy dog - picture above). All the ladies were given bouquets of flowers, and though I didn't eat I was happy to walk away with my own bounty of flowery loveliness. . . Sharon's friend was telling me how much admiration she has for the lady, but feeling honest I reminded her that helping others is addictive, a compulsion. We smiled together at that and wished those waiting in line a Happy New Year . . .

A L O H A! Cloudia