The Slice: Air-conditioning: Yes or No?

It’s not a new question.

Do you need air-conditioning in the Spokane area?

Let’s evaluate the pro/con perspectives.

Pro: When the inside of your home feels like a sweat box (think of what the Alec Guinness character endured in “The Bridge on the River Kwai”) being able to turn on the AC can be pretty sweet.

Con: The expense.

Pro: This is 2017. Spokane life in summertime does not have to resemble a Tennessee Williams play.

Con: Reliance on air-conditioning robs you of the chance to cope with the heat by wearing natural fibers, having a window fan, listening to cool jazz and dining on salads and iced tea.

Pro: It’s hard to be a productive member of society if you have to take six showers a day.

Con: Though it does get hot here, Spokane is seldom all that humid.

Pro: Happy wife, happy life.

Con: A gin and tonic has less of a carbon footprint.

Pro: The possibility of sleep.

Con: When it’s positively chilly inside the home, stepping outside can make you feel like an overheated character in “Lawrence of Arabia.”

Pro: Perspiration really isn’t as interesting as it looked in the 1981 William Hurt/Kathleen Turner movie “Body Heat.”

Con: Air-conditioning implies that you lack a certain hardiness.

Pro: AC allows you to eat ice cream at your own pace.

Con: Does it teach your kids the wrong lesson when it comes to the virtues of endurance and toughing it out?

Pro: It’s why God built the Grand Coulee Dam.

Con: Does AC corrupt your precious bodily fluids?

Pro: It allows you to be creative instead of simply flopping in the recliner and moaning that it’s too hot to live.

Con: Kids won’t grow up and be able to tell the same sort of stories about summer. You know, “Why, back in my day …”

Pro: What’s the point of living in the First World if you can’t have a little comfort?

Con: With the money you save, you can put in a pool.

Today’s Slice question: John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time on this date in 1957. What would be the equivalent first encounter in your own life?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Marilyn Othmer’s Second Half of the Year’s resolution is to try to remember what her New Year’s resolution was.