Page 4 - MidWeek - May 3, 2023

4 MIDWEEK MAY 3, 2023
Who was your favorite teacher?
Out Of Touch
Idon’t know about you, but I sometimes long for the days when we didn’t have “instant” communication. Land- lines and pay phones were for the most part our only means of staying connected. Although I will admit if you have teenagers, mobile phones are a necessity for their safety in emergencies.
Phone calls then were like personal handwritten letters or cards that we get in the mail. We would call grandparents or relatives on special holidays or birthdays. Remember long distance calling cards? We also always looked forward to a phone call from our dad while he was on military deployment. I guess the lack of frequency made the calls special. Kind of like only opening presents once or twice a year for Christmas or your birthday.
RANDY DELA CRUZ
Retired Journalist, ‘Aiea
“Mr. Ray Sugai, who taught at ‘Aiea High during the 1970s. Through his positive way of teaching, he taught me to believe in myself.”
KARISSE SAKAHARA
Teacher, Honolulu
“My ballet instructor, who taught with so much
grace, both physically and spiritually. Today, my favorite teachers are my colleagues, as they give so much of their heart to their students every single day.”
AARON KAHALEHOE WAIPA
Luthier, ‘Aiea
“My science teacher, Mr. Daryl Nishizawa, from ‘Aiea High School. He taught me music, as well as science. He was an overachiever with after-school events, and was funny and caring to all of his students.”
MARY PETERSON
Teacher, Honolulu
“Dr. Alan Katz, professor
of epidemiology at the UH-Mānoa Office of Public Health Studies. He made every class fun and engaging and I often use what I learned from him as inspiration for my Health Services classes.
Then along came pagers that told us to call someone im- mediately. It became somewhat of a status symbol to have one — like doctors did when they were needed right away. Of course, everyone started carrying pagers. Cellular phones had already emerged, but that was for the very wealthy as they would cost an arm and a leg. The closest thing us “regular people” could get was a short-range personal walkie-talkie from The Sharper Image.
Ron Nagasawa
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Fast-Paced World
Expectations
Irecall the days when others could only reach you through phone or snail mail. Back then, we didn’t even have answering machines or fax machines! This meant that if you were home, you’d pick up the call. If you weren’t, you’d be none the wiser about a missed call.
Nowadays, we receive messages 24/7. How often do you find yourself apologizing for being “late” if you don’t respond within 24 hours? In a world that’s accelerating at breakneck speed, can we ever avoid feeling behind? A lot of us have unwittingly adopted unrealistic expectations regarding our time. I also find that many would love to master the freedom to re- spond to non-urgent communication at our own pace, without feeling guilty. What about you?
alice@yourhappinessu.com
Eventually, Motorola, the company that made our black and white TV growing up, came out with an affordable cel- lular phone as did Nokia, Sony and Radio Shack. Suddenly, I was tethered to everyone who had my phone number.
Blackberry more or less introduced email on their phones. Then everyone came out of the woodwork with flip phones. I was amused by flip phones as they were the closest thing to the communicator I had seen on Star Trek as a kid. Much later the Dick Tracy-like Apple iWatch would come out.
The global culture had changed. I read somewhere that Hawai‘i actually was the leader back then in cellphone usage. Now you can’t go anywhere without seeing someone engag- ing with their mobile phone. I’m guilty as charged, but my family has taken it to another level.
Sometimes I’ll put my phone on silent and forget to turn it back on. My wife will call me but not leave a message. She would rather call me an additional 10 times until I answer. She will also text and, if I don’t respond in like 30 seconds, she will put out an All-Points Bulletin on me and fill out a missing person’s report. She will also enlist our daughter, who adds another 20 phone calls and texts.
When I finally respond and ask what the emergency is, my wife will say, “I just wanted to know what you want for dinner.” When I get home, I’ll promise our dogs, Buddy and Wilson, to never put a leash on them again.
rnagasawa@midweek.com