09-22-2016, 05:16 AM
Aloha definitely exists. I can't even count the times I have experienced unselfish acts of kindness here, being treated like a long lost friend by people I've only met a few times, humility from people who have absolutely no reason to be humble (world class musicians, for example). The example I always use in America is when some young guy opens the door for me at the top of the stairs at the gym and waits patiently for the old guy to get to the top. That would NEVER happen on the mainland. The young man would regard such an act as emasculating (we may open doors for women; we will hold one open for a man but only if he is right behind us). But aloha changes that equation. So, I get doors held open for me. Mahalo. It definitely exists and I'm trying hard to live aloha. In the process, I have to unlearn a few things. As for driving, Honolulu is a friggin' mess and so may skew the stats a bit. Also, we have a huge concentration of visitors who are in a hurry to relax. We also have a lot of imported Southern Californians who practice random acts of rudeness or are navigating a weird traffic circle for the first time, doing it wrong and making everyone mad. I think the difference here is that, if you experience road rage in Dallas, there is a probability that you will be shot. Here, that is a very low probability.