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Hawaii has a reputation of being change-averse. When you live on an island, where every aspect of life is compressed and concentrated, change can be hugely disruptive.
But in the last decade or two, Hawaii residents have rolled with plenty of punches and made peace with a bunch of new habits, technological advances and whoa-didn’t-see-that-coming circumstances, and it’s about time we get a little credit for getting used to stuff that seemed so mind-blowing at first, like:
>> Rolling garbage cans.
>> David Ige as governor.
>> 8.8 million tourists a year.
>> The neighbors renting out a couch in their garage to tourists on Airbnb.
>> The end of pineapple.
>> The end of sugar.
>> Farmers markets where half the produce came from Costco.
>> Coqui frogs.
>> Lizards with horns.
>> Doctors actually prescribing marijuana.
>> Grandpa actually taking medical marijuana.
>> Mark Keli‘ihoomalu’s style of hula.
>> Ala Moana Center’s transition from Sears/Longs to Bloomingdale’s/Nordstrom.
>> Kapolei’s transition from nothing to something.
>> Aloha Tower Marketplace’s transition from something to nothing.
>> Tutu with a cellphone.
>> Tutu on Facebook.
>> Tutu on Tinder.
>> Kindergartners with cellphones.
>> Eighth-graders with credit cards.
>> Eighth-graders ordering bubble tea from their cellphone with their credit card and having it delivered to school.
>> Preschoolers drinking from Starbucks cups.
>> Bringing cloth bags into the grocery store.
>> People bringing dogs into grocery stores. And restaurants. And shopping malls.
>> People setting up homes in public parks.
>> The end of Dan Inouye’s political influence.
>> The rise of Tulsi Gabbard’s celebrity status.
>> Same-sex marriage.
>> Same-sex prom dates.
>> Same-day prescription lenses, DNA tests and loan approvals.
>> Food trucks serving gourmet stuff (as opposed to, you know, food truck stuff).
>> Cashless airline flights.
>> Smokeless airline flights.
>> Meal-less airline flights.
>> Having to pay extra to bring a suitcase.
>> Full-body scans at the airport where TSA can see everything.
>> No Aloha Airlines.
>> Longs is actually CVS.
>> Peanut-free zones in schools.
>> Elevated rail lines being built just steps away from public school classrooms.
>> Garbage pickup only once a week.
>> Saturday traffic jams.
>> Sunday traffic jams.
>> June Jones leaving the University of Hawaii.
>> June Jones coaching high school.
>> Gotta pay to hike Diamond Head.
>> Parking meters that take credit cards.
>> Waikiki has more mainland stores than Las Vegas.
>> Las Vegas has more Hawaii people than Waikiki.
>> Sewer bills are about three times as much as water bills.
>> OC16 is actually
Channel 12.
>> Channel 2 News is on Channel 3.
>> No Tower Records for music.
>> No Blockbuster for movies.
>> No Borders for books.
And the list goes on. So many things that just showed up or suddenly went away, so many new things to which Hawaii had to adjust. And we did. Gracefully? Not always. But it happened.
That willingness to accept change could be either a strength or a weakness — the intelligent adaptability of a survivor, the wisdom of having an open mind, or the surrender of utter weariness. Whatever. Just don’t say Hawaii never changes.
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
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