DIVERSITY ON DISPLAY

[schlomo]

Diversity on Display

The three topmost lanais of the condo right in front of mine are highly differentiated. The penthouse lanai sports a few weight-lifting stands. Otherwise, the lanai is bare. A brawny native-Hawaiian looking young man in gym attire is the only person occasionally using this equipment. Sometimes he is thoroughly relaxed when his regimen takes only a couple of minutes. On the other hand, I once observed that he spent about a half hour tenaciously lifting a variety of weights.

I have noticed many sedately dressed, serious-minded Asians, male and female, bustle about on the lanai below the young man’s. Their main activity is drying heaps of clothes on aluminum racks containing a half dozen or so daily loads of laundry. Some scraggly plants, a few empty baskets, and a couple of fishing poles have been placed around the edge of the lanai. There is no room left to add a chair or a hammock.

Every day, directly across from my lanai, I see a bare chested light-hearted Caucasian man in a swimsuit frequently watering an array of potted plants. Otherwise, he is sweeping, vacuuming, and scrubbing the lanai or basking in the sun after his meticulous housekeeping. He is so lovingly engaged with his lanai that he rarely goes inside until the evening.

These three lanais are a microcosm of the demographic diversity of Hawaii. Vive la difference!

[wilful]

Hi Schlomo - How far away would you say those lanais are from yours?

[schlomo]

A stone's throw with an arthritic arm.