Readers write: Letters to the editor, August 18, 2017

Juvenile leaders' name-calling must not lead to bloodshed

Before we get into the "sky is falling" mode, maybe we ought to search for actual proof that North Korea does, or does not, have a missile system capable of carrying out its threats. We have tracked many of their missile launches and can attest that most of the missiles they shot up into the air eventually came down again. We don't have any idea that they landed at the spot where they were targeted; we don't have any idea what the payload was, and we have no real idea how many trials were necessary to achieve a successful launch.

The information released by North Korea regarding the Guam shoot carefully plots the impact as a 6.2-mile-wide zone outside Guam's territorial waters, not exactly a pinpoint target. So the provocation is slightly watered down — if it's outside territorial waters, it's not a hostile act and we don't have to respond unless we wish to. But perhaps the whole exercise is designed to provoke a response — such as our trying to shoot them down with our missile defense system. North Korea, China and Russia, among others, would dearly love a peek at the performance and effectiveness of our system. And I suspect we'd actually rather not test it in public for fear it may prove less effective than expected. Nothing like a flash and a pop when you have bragged about fire and fury.

If we do launch a war, the people of South Korea should be considered sitting ducks for any conventional weapons the North may choose to throw in their direction. We really should get out of the business of causing the deaths of thousands to prove how strong we are.

I have done some soldiering in my time, and I realize that it's sometimes necessary to resort to killing. But there should be clear indications that peace would be more costly in the long haul than the war you're about to start. I don't want to see blood spilled just because two equally juvenile national leaders have run out of names to call each other.

— Don Neal
Anchorage

Some thoughts for our hardy corps of classroom teachers

These musings are for all the teachers getting ready to begin a new school year:

If you're not a teacher, you have never truly rejoiced over someone owning their own pencil, or having to wait a whole hour between trips to the bathroom.

If you're not a teacher, you've probably never used the phrases: "Kafka's use of existentialism" and "put your shoes back on" in the same sentence.

If you're not a teacher, I know you don't have a job description that includes wiping up snot, writing professional articles detailing statistical data and its interpretation, playing basketball, troubleshooting computers, counseling a pregnant teen, and leading five 50-minute workshops a day, each on a different topic.

If you're not a teacher, you don't have a balloon for a soul — inflated and deflated with a breath. A soul expanded by a thoughtful answer from someone who rarely speaks, contracted by a bitter comment muttered under a breath.

If you're not a teacher, you don't truly appreciate the words, "thank you" — an affirmation so rarely given that each occurrence is written about in pages of a journal; each note saved in an old jewelry box where life's most precious treasures are kept.

If you're not a teacher, you've never experienced what it feels like to put all of yourself — your energy, intellect and heart — into every hour of every day — then go home at night and listen to the talk shows criticize and complain that you're lazy and underqualified, and the reason our society is not living up to its potential.

If you're not a teacher it's because you lack the determination it requires to keep going, knowing all you can do and give will still not be enough, but knowing you have to try.

If you're not a teacher, you don't know to wonder if the minds inside the bent heads scrutinizing the assignment just handed out may be the ones that will find the cure for cancer, build a space station, write a book, a song, become president, find an alternative energy source, or even, become a teacher.

Because if you're a teacher, you rummage through the rubble of each day and look for diamonds far under the surface, sift through a thousand mundane moments for a possible gold nugget.

And if you're a teacher, you know you've really done your job, if in the end you are no longer needed, and can fade into the background.

— Kelly Daugherty
Anchorage

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.