The Aloha Way…

Lately, I’ve been bombarded with people who… let’s just say… makes me wonder about humanity and how cruel people can be.  Perhaps I am just getting old or perhaps the world is changing for the worst as the advance technology created environments that desensitize our compassion and civility.  And then a few days ago, a man name Peter changed my mind and showed me that there is still hope for the world yet…

Peter discovered my restaurant while driving around a couple of weeks ago. He lives in Phoenix and works for a transportation company so occasionally, he would come up to Prescott. We chatted and I found out he was born in Hawaii but raised on the mainland. He was very impressed with my food and took a stack of menu with him. I thought he was nice but didn’t think much about him again. Well, he was so impressed by my food the first time that when he came back to Prescott a few days ago, he stopped by to see me. And after chatting for a bit, somehow the conversation shifted to him volunteering to stand in front of the restaurant’s sidewalk, with him wearing a Hawaiian style straw hat, leis made of shells, holding on to a ukulele he got for Christmas, as he stood in the sweltering heat for almost two hours — waving the restaurant banner at passing cars. The temperature was over a hundred degrees and he stood out there tirelessly, waving and smiling… and surprisingly, most of the drivers wave and smile back. Some even honked their car horn. His kind gesture brought in several customers and made my other wise slow day a lot better. And it wasn’t just the new customers he brought in that made it better; I was completely astonished that a total stranger — out of the blue — would do that for me because he wanted to help me succeed.  His only compensation was iced tea and my whole heart gratitude. He told me that what he did is “THE ALOHA WAY…” it’s their way of paying it forward. The word Aloha means a lot more than just a way for the Hawaiians to greet each other. It is their way of life.

Intrigued by Peter’s explanation of Aloha Way that I Google the term and found an article that explains more in-depth about the word Aloha. Click here to read the article. Besides the common meanings of hello, farewell, and showing love… the word Aloha holds within itself all one needs to know to interact rightfully in the natural world. These insights describe an attitude or way of life sometimes called “The Aloha Spirit” or “The Way of Aloha”. Very interesting article… I love it when I learn something new. And now that I see the word Aloha in a different light, I realized that Peter discovering my restaurant was no coincidence. I believe things happened for a reason — good or bad. Somethings are here to teach us lessons that we will use as we all continue to travel on our personal life journey. I realized that I’ve been trying to live my life the Aloha Way and I guess that’s why I ended up with a Hawaiian style restaurant in a small desert town, five thousand feet above sea level. And the challenges this little restaurant brings are priceless life lessons for me to discover and learn… ALOHA! 🙂