Letters for Monday, June 24, 2019

Letter on pesticides was spot on

I want to praise Mr. Will Davis for one of the most powerful letters yet (TGI Forum, June 14) regarding the dangers of the genetic engineering of our foods and the use of restricted-use pesticides. I have been trying to communicate this information for over 20 years. You, Mr. Davis, communicated the problems beautifully. This problem is black and white. Poison harms living things, humans included. There is no Plan B. Once a child’s brain is damaged, it’s a life sentence for the child as well as the family. Let’s keep this conversation going and maybe our politicians will hear it and actually do something about it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Linda Bothe, Kalaheo

Speeders endanger themselves, others

A few decades ago, the San Francisco Aquarium installed a new tank designed to please both its finny denizens and the humans who watched them. This tank comprised a torus with glass panels on the inner side, through which visitors could observe the fish. A pump created a 2-knot current against which the fish swam.

All I could think was how much they reminded me of the ways people drive on a freeway. Most went steadily on, but occasionally an impatient individual would weave and speed through the mass. Would they be less aggressive, I wondered, if they knew that they were just racing around in a circle?

The difference between those fish and Kauai drivers, of course, is that one cannot drive in a circle around this island. One cannot even drive very far in one direction. Why, then, do so many of our people, as several recent letters have asked, need to speed?

Perhaps these individuals are too busy rushing around to read the newspaper. If any of them find the time, however, I hope they will consider real speed, such as that of light at about 186,000 miles per second. Even this sluggard earth whirls around at about 1000 miles an hour. By comparison, does moving at 10 mph faster than another car matter enough to risk a possibly fatal accident?

Mary Baker Eddy, a wise observer of human nature, once remarked, “Rushing around smartly is no proof of accomplishing much.” I would suggest that rushing around stupidly, as some of our drivers do, is proof positive of accomplishing nothing at all. Slow down, Kauai. This is not the Mainland!

H. M. Wyeth, Anahola
Source: The Garden Island