I let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth for about ten minutes before I finally said something:
My head was pointed downward, reading research for my next Huffington Post article, when Marcus Samuelsson’s doppelganger joined the bus. He sat down and attempted to start a conversation with the young lady sitting opposite from me. She was wearing short shorts, a sleeveless shirt, and large headphones resting over her ears. I didn’t see the entire interaction but I heard him say “Aloha” to her and when she didn’t respond, he went on a rant to another passenger about how the “Aloha” spirit is dead in Hawaii. Here were two men pointing and talking about a young women and her lack of manners. She sat between them, headphones on and eyes facing forward. My mother always tells me “You never regret your silence”. I agree…but sometimes the justice gene is too hard to silence.
"Excuse me. Do you really think your "Aloha" was a friendly gesture? I’m just observing and I thought it was a bit aggressive."
"No. I’m being nice. She’s rude. People on the mainland think Hawaii is friendly but it’s not."
"Well, I’m new here and I’ve found most people to be friendly. I thought your "Aloha" to her was not kind. She has headphones on and you were interrupting her bus ride. Maybe she’s having a bad day and just wants to listen to music? I don’t think she’s rude."
The two men stopped ranting among themselves and I went back to reading. The young lady eventually got up to exit the bus and with her headphones still glued to her ears, she looked me in the eyes and mouthed “Thank You”. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever felt that someday I could be a great mother.
A few stops later, the man got off the bus and shook my hand on his way out. As I searched frantically for my hand sanitizer, I thought about how well I’ve been responding to situations here.
