Praise for old appliances
Back in 1995, we came to spend some time with our daughter at her rental in Ainaloa. We soon visited the local Sears to buy a washing machine for her to make life a little easier. The next winter, we followed up with the purchase of a dryer, also at Sears. The two laundry appliances came to our new house in Hilo in 1998, and the builder was horrified that they were not matching! I had never heard of that being something to consider. They have performed well over the years, with only very minor repairs.
However, early this year, the washing machine failed to pump out the dirty, soapy water with a whole load of laundry inside. What a mess. We assumed that the pump had failed, but the repair man found that all that was needed was to replace the control on the front of the unit, the one that sets the type of cycle and the time.
Out of curiosity, I asked the gentleman how old he could guess was the age of the machine, and he quickly answered: mid-’90s. Wow, how did he know that? It turned out that he knew that at that time the whole mechanism of the machine had been changed, so that the units would wear out faster. They were lasting too long!
Quite recently, the dryer failed as well, and it turned out that the motor had to be replaced. So, perhaps the motor could be compared to a heart and the control on the washer to a brain.
It reminds me of something a member of the Hilo Unitarian Roundtable in Hilo, which we joined about 20 years ago, said as we were leaving an eatery to which he had invited us, but we had to pay the whole bill. Addressing my husband, but looking at me, he said: “Take good care of her. The wife is the best appliance in the house!”
That was pretty insulting, I thought, but now it is tempting to compare my aging body to my sturdy laundry appliances! Here I am, flirting with heart failure, my eyeballs are finally almost completely blind, and there are innumerable other problems which have no solution.
And say a requiem for Sears. Even their repair service has been sold to some other outfit, which is barely functioning.
Adrienne S. Dey
Hilo
Not fair
We’re not all in this together.
The $2,200 teacher bonus is a blow to all public service and frontline workers.
Superintendent Christina Kishimoto recently visited our campus as the model for bringing 100% of students back to high schools, but only teachers get the bonus? How is that fair?!
We work hand-in-hand with teachers — we were all nervous about bringing students back, we all had questions, and we all worked together to reopen the school.
What about the rest of us? What about the health care workers, first responders and any other frontline or essential workers? Do they get a bonus, too? How can the Legislature single out one profession as the only group to deserve more?
This is extremely disappointing.
Thomas Jon Giel
Educational assistant III,
Kohala High School
Two difficult years
I am a 17-year-old that is finishing up my high school career and starting on my college one.
This year and last year, however, have been very difficult ones. I have been stuck away from all my friends and those I hold dear. I have been pushed away from my sports and workouts that I had been doing for years before.
I have had to change a lot in the last multiple months. This has been hard on everyone, and we are just starting to see the vaccines getting rolled out to everyone and young people lining up to do their part and be vaccinated.
With these events unfolding in front of our eyes, I think it is time to look toward the future and getting back to “normal.” We should reopen the schools that have not been opened and make sports open to the players again.
Now, I am not saying that everyone, everywhere should be thrown right back into school, but I think that all the people working to get themselves vaccinated should start up their scholastic careers again.
I also think that those students who participate in sports should be encouraged to strive for the most they can.
Victor Norem
Hilo
