This is included here as a tribute to a special neighbor who began our Sheltie odyssey. It was written with Eddie and his family in mind, in response to a post that appeared on the Sheltie-List:

Subject: Tolerance and Inclusion
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998

Her feelings of exclusion saddened me, especially so because the wishes were well-meaning ones. I responded:

* * * * *

Aloha,

I am sorry to see the discord here. The title of this thread, Tolerance and Inclusion, inspires me to respond.

This past weekend, my husband and I attended our first bar mitzvah of a young man, Alex, who thoroughly impressed us with the hard-earned fruit of his many years of diligently studying Hebrew. His fluid reading from the Torah was so beautiful that we wept! I can't even begin to imagine what basket-cases we'll be when he gets married.

Almost 14 years ago before he was even conceived, his dad, Eddie, was walking a Sheltie when we were looking to buy the home we now live in. I told my husband, "Seeing that Sheltie is a good omen. That's exactly the kind of dog I want." When we moved into the neighborhood, we were among the first minorities.

It was Eddie with Shelly the Sheltie who first befriended us, made us feel welcome, and connected us up with his Sheltie breeder, Mona , the "Mom" of all five of our Shelties. It is Eddie and his family who come over to play and feed our furkids when we are in Hawai`i.

The rest is history. Alex, his son, and our first Sheltie, Hau`oli, grew up together. Over the years, we have learned a lot about Judaism:

The beanie is a yarmulke. The candlestick in their window is a menorrah, not a minerva. La Chaim! To Life! Shabbat. Shalom. Peace. And trees being planted in the desert to green up Israel.

James Michener, author of my most favorite book, HAWAI`I, referred to the "amalgamated" children of Hawai`i as the "Golden Children," due to their mixed stock, including and not limited to Asian, Polynesian, WASP and non-WASP bloodlines. As a result, the Golden Children are exposed to a myriad of spiritual influences and philosophies and are often...ecumenical.

Until last week, however, neither my husband nor I had ever been in a Jewish temple. I devoured the prayer book, and was amazed at the similarities. It talked about tolerance, forbearance, and dealt with issues that have arisen here, including "loving your neighbor," "we are one," and "putting spiritual riches ahead of material ones." A fine prayer book, I thought, with universal teachings.

I'm glad that we didn't assume that we were unwelcome in this neighborhood just because we were definitely a minority of two (2) from Hawai'i. We would have deprived ourselves of a diversity of terrific neighbors, of varied religious backgrounds and ethnicities.

Yes, sometimes, stereotypical comments have grated on us, but having been raised in a more tolerant, gentler, multi-ethnic society in Hawai`i, we didn't succumb to quietly closing (or slamming) doors. We would chalk unintended faux pas up to simple ignorance.

Sorry this is get longer than I intended, and I'll finish with a prime example of how actions speak louder than words. Every year, we take over Chanukah gifts to Alex and his brother, Aaron. Every year, Eddie and his wife, Celia, bring over a beautiful Sheltie calendar that they order especially for us from a Shetland Sheepdog Club in Florida.

Every year, we pause to marvel how our Shelties have brought us together as good neighbors, great friends. Believing that we worship the same Akua (God), I like to think our neighborly friendship makes God smile with delight to see that we are all getting along just fine.

Our Sheltie-kids have the same common Shetland Island ancestry. Doesn't that make us one big Sheltie `Ohana (Family)?

Happy hol-lei-days!