Whenever I travel, I try to keep an eye out for vandalism and graffiti. I find that the subtle differences in these can reveal important features of a place.

A few years back, my line of work took me out to Fort Irwin, where a lot of US soldiers have trained prior to and between rotations to Iraq. I read something scrawled in one of the port-o-potties there that I won't soon forget:

"If I owned Iraq and hell, I'd sell Iraq and live in hell."

I'm sure a lot of people have compared Iraq to hell; probably no fewer equate Hawaii with heaven. Arriving at Honolulu airport, I noticed some scribbles on the taxi stand:

"Fear God. Fear no mon."

Nice to see the island spirit shines through even in serious graffiti.