Dealing with a 5-hour time delay, my work day starts anywhere between 5 and 6am and ends around noon, sending additional emails at night. Last Friday as “close of business” neared for my east coast co-workers, I put my laptop to sleep promptly at 5pm EST (noon, Pacific), eager to take a ride with my sister towards Diamond Head. I love that spot on Diamond Head Road where you can pull over, park and watch the surfers and the windsurfers from the short stone barrier along the makai side of the crater.

On the way out there, we decided to run by Kahala Mall so we could pick up lunch at Aloha Salads and increase Glenda’s Verizon data plan. That accomplished, we detoured through the Kahala Resort then looped back into the residential area near the crater – one of the loveliest neighborhoods on O’ahu – to snag a parking place.

Manicured cliff on the makai side of Diamond Head.

The waves roll in with the regularity of a wave machine.

Gentle ride on an O’ahu afternoon.

Watching the surfers from a semi-shaded spot which graces the cliff-top before it dives sharply to the sea, I worked up a thirst and started craving a shave ice. Knowing that we were pretty close to Uncle Clay’s, I asked Glenda to take me there before we headed back to change clothes for First Friday, Honolulu’s monthly art gallery walk in Chinatown. She and her family had regularly frequented Uncle Clay’s House of Pure Aloha when they lived in Hawai’i Kai, but I had never tried it.

Was I in for a treat! Sure, the famed all-natural, locally-sourced homemade syrups were deliciously refreshing over the fine shaven ice, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and fresh pineapple topping. But they aren’t kidding about this being the “House of Pure Aloha.” The shave ice and homemade toppings are a given; but what Clay and his handsome nephew, Bronson, are truly peddling is “Ohana” and the spirit of Aloha. All my life I’ve struggled to communicate the meaning of that three-syllable word:  Aloha. Uncle Clay and Bronson did it over a single serving of shave ice, late on an O’ahu afternoon. 

According to Uncle Clay, “Aloha” is unconditional love. It’s making a commitment to appreciating all people as part of our one world, one family (“Ohana”); to being our best selves and to believing that we can change the world for the better starting with ourselves, one heartbeat at a time. Whew. I felt like I was in church.

#hopalove manifesto (and marketing genius) on display.

Is this “House of Pure Aloha” (#hopalove) credo contrived to sell more shave ice? I suspect so. You can bet tech-savvy Bronson is behind the branded hashtag, Facebook and Twitter accounts, and the mouth-watering Instagram photos. Yet, somehow Uncle Clay’s interest in speaking to every customer and sharing his vision of Ohana and Pure Aloha seem to go beyond marketing gimmickry. It seemed genuine. Greeting each patron with a warm handshake or heartfelt embrace (even me!), Clay’s affection was palpable, even when he struggled to remember a customer’s name.

Out here, they take “Aloha” seriously enough to write it into the law books. And believe it or not, most people embody the concept. Is there a fragment of the population simmering with anger and resentment surrounding Cook’s contact and so much of what followed? Undoubtedly. But if you are truly mindful and respectful of cultural customs, sacred places and practices, your attitude is appreciated and met with the same respect…and I daresay…the spirit of Aloha.

According to official statute in Hawai’i: “Aloha is more than a word of greeting or farewell or a salutation. Aloha means mutual regard and affection and extends warmth in caring with no obligation in return. Aloha is the essence of relationships in which each person is important to every other person for collective existence. Aloha means to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable.”

A-lo-ha. Three little syllables that mean so much and speak so deeply. It’s southern hospitality on steroids, without the cloying saccharin, or judgmental up-in-your-business nosiness that too many of my southern brethren exude. 

The handsome Bronson and Aloha evangelist Uncle Clay, pictured with their #Square checkout reader.

In a state so committed to living the Aloha spirit that it’s even written into the law books, it seems appropriate that a simple outing to fetch shave ice turned into an inspirational prayer meeting with the Aloha evangelists of Aina Haina. Long live #hopalove.