Life Is Full of Choices...

...Remove Your Shoes or Scrub the Floors...

For mainlanders, it's common practice to walk in your home with your shoes on. Few people think of it. In fact, it's a constant struggle in my own house to get my hubbers to take off his shoes when he comes in the house from the garden. I always get grossed out when I think of all the yergh that makes its way into our carpets from the outside; I mean, when you think of all the things that end up on the ground, it can make one feel faint. Things like dog poop, cat poop, bird poop, dead bugs (earwigs, beetles, spiders, potato bugs, ants, bees, etc.), worms, roadkill, grass clippings, car oil, french fries or hamburgers or soda pop, bubble gum, hair, pesticides, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...

In Hawaii, I have never entered a home where people wear their shoes. It just isn't done. It's rumored that the Japanese brought the custom with them when they immigrated to the islands. But when you look at customs, they more often than not have a practical reason behind them. I'm not certain of all of the practicalities that create the history explaining why Hawaiian residents take off their shoes before traipsing through their homes, but 2 things I noticed on my last trip there:

The red rock of the roads in many of the areas of the Big Island stick to the bottoms of your shoes like burrs

The ants will come in droves if you should bring into the house on the bottom of your shoes some tasty morsel, like food or bug remnants. Cockroaches are also fans of the same things ants like, but I never saw any of them critters at my parents' house.

It makes sense to take off your shoes to avoid the drudgery of cleaning up rocks or cleaning up ants. [SIDENOTE: I tell you, the ant colony portrayal in the movie Antz ain't got nuthin' on the ant action on the Big Island. Watching those bugs, you could almost swear you can hear little bugles keening, guiding the formation of the troops.]

So, when planning your Big Island adventure next year, prepare to bring easy-to-remove shoes. Or go local-style, and just buy some slippahs at the Hilo Longs Drugs store for 3 bucks. Or if you want to be even more prepared for your trip, order yourself a pair on-line at DaSlippas.com.