Shaka!

The other day, Charles Memminger of the Star Bulletin (Honolulu) wrote about New York Times writer Katharine "Kit" Seelye mistaking President Obama's "shaka" sign to his alma mater's Marching Band as a "call me" gesture in her online blog. (She thinks at first it's a "call me" gesture, then a few minutes later, corrects herself. Check out the link to see The Man waving The Shaka. Cool.) Hey, that's a common enough mistake, right? Not a big deal. The big deal was when, according to Mr. M's column, Ms. S got so riled up she wrote back to tell him how upset she was (with him) and asked the Bulletin to publish her letter to editor.

Wow.

Why can't Ms. Seelye just admit she doesn't know EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME? That sometimes she gets her facts WRONG? And why get so defensive just because a humor writer of a small free Honolulu paper pokes a bit of fun at you? Let it go. Self-importance should be left to the politicians and emerging rock bands.

And worst of all: Where's your sense of humor?

Oh. I remember. It escaped from the New York Times.
(Just kidding. But I didn't need to tell you that, did I?)

"Howzit, brah?" "Shaka!"
Wouldn't it be great if everyone in the current administration began using it? Aloha shirt Fridays would be fun, too. Can't you just picture Obama negotiating peace in the Middle East wearing a parrot-colored shirt? How can men stay angry while wearing loud floral prints? We should get the leaders of Israel and Palestine to wear aloha shirts. I'll bet they'd stop dumping bombs on each other.

Buddy N shows us the proper lazy way of displaying a "shaka."