Don’t whine,
By Raenelle Kwock
get out there
and voteBALLOTS. Candidates. Voters. Hawaii's primary election will arrive soon. According to political advertisements and polls, the chief concern of Hawaii residents is the economy, and it's a concern that needs to be addressed.
Money should not be the most important thing in life, but having enough money for survival is key to most peoples' satisfaction in life. I know this from personal experience.
On July 9, I started working part time at the Hawaii State Library. The library is affected by the state's five-day payroll lag and it has frustrated me.
I think it affected me more than my co-workers because it was my first job. I was counting on the money to go shopping for new clothes before heading to the mainland for school.
To me, it felt like a tight squeeze, but I am not whining just for myself. My reasons for needing the money seemed frivolous compared to the needs of my co-workers. I worked with many dedicated individuals who seemed to accept the status quo without complaint.
These days, I guess many people feel relieved just to have a job. I couldn't help but think, however, that whenever pay arrives later than normal, you don't have to ask people, "How are you doing?" to realize they must be hurting in some way.
I didn't feel it was my place to ask those kinds of questions, but I'm sure my older co-workers probably had families to take care of and bills that they were unable to pay because of the lag.
YESTERDAY was my first day back at Drake University. What happens now is I will receive my first paycheck -- due to the politics of new employee processing -- from my summer job while in my dorm. That means instead of spending the money in Hawaii, where it might do small businesses some good, I will have to spend it in Iowa.
So I hope that everyone votes in the upcoming elections. I hope you choose candidates who have strong plans for solving Hawaii's economic woes.
Last semester I studied political science, so I know that loyalty to one party is important to some voters. But if one party does not do the job, I hope that loyalty does not prevent voters from seeing that another party might do better.
Instead of suffering and grumbling about the state's problems to family, neighbors and co-workers, take the first step. Vote to show you care. Vote to make a difference. Vote to bolster the economy.
May voters choose a new leader who will bring great success. Hopefully, the payroll lag of 1998 will someday be seen as a one-time thing of the past.
Raenelle Kwock is a 1997 Kamehameha Schools
graduate and a sophomore at Drake University
in Des Moines, Iowa.Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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