Post #3686897

So... I've been a transplant on the island of Oahu for nearly a decade now and I thought the Verse might enjoy a little of the local flavor we have here. There's a thing here called "Hawaiian Time" that loosely translates to an attitude of "I'll be there when I get there." When taken in spirit it's one of the better, kinder parts of the culture here. To add to that we are a true melting pot of the Pacific, with all sorts of first generation immigrants, plenty of whom are learning to drive a car later in life. So about a year ago a proliferation of "PLEASE BE PATIENT STUDENT DRIVER" bumper stickers started showing up on cars here. You can even see one poking out below the yellow one in this photo I took today. I'll be the first to admit that the typical drivers of these cars were locals, likely to be collecting AARP benefits. My daily commute takes me along a highway that connects two military bases. So it wasnt hard to connect the implications to observations. In a polite and uniquely Hawaiian way this was a cultural "back off" being given to the 20-somthing personnel on their daily commutes. No judgment here on my part, I remember being 20 and wanting to go "WEEEE" down the highway, and anyways that's a stressful job and mainlanders in the military don't get to enjoy Hawaiian norms and culture. It's a two tribes one highway scenario. Time goes by and then today this just shows up on my afternoon commute. The perfect rebuttal to the 57 y.o. "student drivers" that showed up en-masse.