• Lifeguards are heroes • Dollars don’t translate to better education • Machines always cheaper than people Lifeguards are heroes Although there isn’t much to be happy about regarding the Anahola murder on Friday, I did find one bright spot
• Lifeguards are heroes • Dollars don’t translate to better
education • Machines always cheaper than people
Lifeguards are heroes
Although there isn’t much to be happy about regarding the Anahola murder on Friday, I did find one bright spot when I read about the actions of water safety officers Carl Ragasa and Kai Wedemeyer.
We learn a lot about ourselves in moments like these, where we either cower or we plunge ourselves into the thick of danger in order to try and help someone in a critical situation.
Although for some of us it’s instinctive to jump in, for many if not most of us it’s instinctive to experience fear and to shy away, and I don’t condemn that reaction. It’s part of our human nature, and practicing how to overcome that natural fear is a lot of what military basic training is all about. Great novels have been written about human beings and the challenge of this crisis moment (e.g. “Lord Jim” by Joseph Conrad).
Whether or not Carl’s and Kai’s selfless reaction was instinct or whether it was due to their training into the water safety officer mindset I don’t know. What I do know is that our water safety officers are public heroes and public safety officers of the highest order, whether on land or in the ocean, and I will never pass up an opportunity to express my admiration and appreciation.
Dr. Monty Downs, Lihu‘e
Dollars don’t translate to better education
In response to Marjorie Gifford’s Dec. 17 letter entitled “Is increasing tourism good for Kaua’i” I would like to add my support to her comments as well as contribute a thought or two.
Yes, “we need qualified, well-educated people to run our government.” Yet we also need residents: who respect the gift of government that they have inherited; who are responsible to the point of exercising their right and duty to vote; who are intelligent enough to understand that if they do not engage in exercising their rights they will achieve the reward, a government, they deserve.
Higher quality education does not result from increasing the amount of dollars given to an obese bureaucracy but rather from the “3 R’s” that our children need to learn before admittance to any public school system: respect, responsibility and reward. Without understanding and appreciating these “3 R’s” children will not be able to learn the second “3 R’s” our teachers are desperately attempting to teach them. Education is a discipline and without discipline one will not become a productive, learned adult.
Lastly, “aspiration levels are set far too low” for a very good reason. There is a huge void concerning the quality of jobs available as a result of the lack of industry within our Island State. The reason for this “industrial void” is the hostility of our governing incumbent’s resistance toward welcoming new industries onto our shores as a result of “cronyism, nepotism, good ole boys politics, fraud, corruption and just plain greed and personal gain”.
Hawai‘i’s sorrowfully low national rating towards being “Business Friendly” is a sad and recognized reality being dictated from a “closed looped” wealthy few. Why else would Kaua‘i’s elected and appointed officials reject two new industries in the environmental field from being introduced to our island? Why would they reject an opportunity to bring two new job creating industries to the Kekaha community? Perhaps they too are in need of learning the first “3 R’s”?
John Hoff, Lawa‘i
Machines always cheaper than people
A recent entry in the Letters to the Editor was in rebuttal to the opinion that illegals hobble America. I appreciate the opportunity to expand further on that premise.
The inexpensive labor (somewhat) illegals offer is just the tip of the iceberg of expenses they create. Educating them, the additional police force and prisons needed, and the emergency rooms swamped with them are additional costs.
Even the Catholic Church in the U.S. is feeling greatly pressured. Churches cannot be built fast enough, let alone afforded.
The wages are the smaller part. The Investor’s Business Daily recently totaled the real cost, and though I can’t remember the figure, it was quite staggering.
To examine the best example of how cheap labor can hinder a society, we should look at its cost to the pre-Civil War South. The South was in permanent underclass compared to the North due largely to slavery. The slaves were available and owned so they had to be used. The so-called cheap labor of slavery was an illusion and inhibited advancement in almost every form. When the war began, it was almost a foregone conclusion who the winner would eventually be.
If the cheaper labor weren’t available, answers would rapidly be found for the manual work of this nation. We would very likely find our grocery bills no more than before the change was made. After all, machines are always cheaper than people.
Carlos White, Princeville
