THE SPIRIT OF ALOHA

Large cities, in the United States at least, do not just bustle and/or buzz with activity. Rather, envision the screeching agony of locked brakes heading straight into a brick wall. Nothing sedate, pastoral or comforting - instead, Imax images of huge pieces of random metals bashing off each other with profane expletives, suicidal driving techniques, and obscene volume.

I have become accustomed to the quiet pace of rural southern Arizona where, discounting the numerous Border Patrol helicopters chasing illegals. I can hear the birds sing, my spoiled horse whinny for attention, and the neighbor's lonely dog's pitiful yelp. At night you can listen to coyotes howl (or at least pretend that the abandoned wild dog packs are coyotes), see the owls and bats whisper through the darkness (and pray you don't get pooped on from the sky - a much scarier experience in total dark), and watch the moon rise over the San Pedro Valley.

And while Oahu, I freely admit, has grown in numbers, highways, and tourist traps, I feel is still brightened by the smiles of the drive-through lady at the local McDonald's (true, she does see me at least daily - and I am accustomed to my own Joy's scowl when I go through back home), the cashier's cheerful 'aloha!' and the driver who waves 'shaka' out of his window instead of the middle finger of his left hand when you let him into traffic.

There are the frantic drivers, firmly convinced that civilized life on the planet will end if they don't get to the next red stop light ahead of the driver next to them - the parents with three kids in car seats grazing your rear bumper at 65 mph - and (my personal favorite) the lane-jumpers weaving in and out of rush-hour traffic who end up behind when you exit. And I feel confidently racist when I note that the grand majority of these types here in Honolulu are Caucasians - what is called, and not always complimentary, on the islands as 'haole.'

So (back to the main point that I was trying to get to way back at the beginning of this post for those of you who might still be reading this... wait a minute, what is the point I was trying to make?) while Honolulu is becoming more like a big city... it still isn't.

And this shows what happens when you hard at work with a blog entry and your two-year old granddaughter comes downstairs and wants your FULL attention - later, gator!