After last Saturday’s surreal experience, perhaps we don’t need a text alert notification system.

The truly existential question is, perhaps, “Do we really need to know that we only have about 20 minutes before a missile hits, when there is absolutely nothing we can do to protect ourselves and family?”

Live and love each day as if it were the last.

Ruth Wade

Kailua

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Lesson learned about need to be prepared

Although I was extremely frightened by the missile attack text I received on Saturday, I strongly feel that the person who made the error should not be fired.

Yes, it was a mistake, but mistakes happen. The most important thing I took away from this was that I was not prepared. I was home alone and for the first 10 minutes, I ran around the house in a panic. But listening to the instructions on the TV, I was able to pull myself together and get into a safe space.

We were all warned about this on many occasions. I feel confident to know that safeguards are being put into effect to prevent this from happening again.

Leina Kaichi

Puunui

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Bill Clinton treated unfairly about affairs

I think the current trend of deriding former President Bill Clinton is a little unfair.

President John F. Kennedy also had a reputation for being a womanizer, and was rumored to have had numerous affairs while married. Yet he is still justifiably widely revered today.

Clinton did a perfectly respectable and earnest job of managing the country, beginning with pulling America out of a severe recession during his first term, and culminating with the government having an actual budget surplus upon his leaving office.

Even after admitting to the Lewinsky affair, Clinton’s public approval rating was 73 percent.

I truly believe he approached his job as president with the utmost respect and dedication, and was probably profoundly aggrieved by the shame his sex scandal brought to the White House.

I doubt our current president, a proudly self-admitted sexual predator, feels any such shame or remorse.

Kevin Johnson

Kakaako

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Isle QBs provided break from bad news

Mahalo nui to Ferd Lewis for his front-page, above-the-fold story on the remarkable talent of our local athletes who have taken the national stage by storm (“Polynesian pride,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 10). What a great opportunity for the Aloha State to shine.

Unfortunately, this sense of pride lasted only as long as it took to flip to the Local & Business section, where one is met with the headline, “Half of isle residents face financial hardship.”

Auwe. Talk about a buzz kill! It’s a good thing that the abilities of our star performers are not policy-driven, or we would not have much of anything to celebrate.

Joan Rank

Waialua

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Trump’s vulgarities part of our history

I hope readers won’t be upset with the Star-Advertiser’s decision not to censor President Donald Trump’s words (“In vulgar terms, Trump slurs many immigrants,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 12). Our president’s words — clean or profane — are a part of our history.

Sean Goodspeed

Ala Moana