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It has been three years since I last spent the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.  How things are different in this span.

Everyone is three years older, from babies to nonagenarian, people change in different ways.  Babies grow and glow, give hope and energy; a nonagenarian grows old, loses its ability and mobility, then goes the body or minds whichever happens first.   It takes energy to seek out the positivity of getting old as it journeys to illness.  Old people give plenty ideas of how we want to plan ahead or glimpses of tens of years ahead.  It is a future time machine.  It is about love.  It is easy to love a bright future, it is something else to love the last mile of a journey.  It is humbling and same deal to most.  What motivates may just be the constant need to overcome new loss of ability to slow down the deterioration.   Life is circular and we end where we start – nothing.  Yet, if life is a circle, some draws a humongous one; some is more like a dot, a small number with negative radius.   The world is almost shaped by those few who journeys a lot in their lives. Take an example, the smart phones are not a result of public voting, yet it changes how billions are spending their time every day.  Internet and search are not the result of the work of the majority; it changes the lives of many.  Automation of repetitive tasks is not the choice of majority of workers; it is the effort of bright minds who believe human intelligence will better be consumed in higher order than repetitive and mundane activities, maybe many would not mind mundane jobs to make a possible living.  How the world evolves does not tie neatly with the advocacy of democracy in many political systems. No-one protest about technology, the smart phones, Internet, Wi-Fi nor the many apps, we endorse it most wholeheartedly.  Are people being selective in the pursuit of democracy?

Minority groups in Hong Kong are protesting for full democracy.  What feels like the top social issue is the ubiquitous disharmony, the political debate and a city-wide negativity.  Recent central occupation and the city riots on Chinese New Year Day are manifest of mostly disruptive behavior, however people justify them.  The city has its share of problems, and more shares of fortunes when compared to many other places. The way it is going creates a real possibility that this generation grows up to see things from great to good, and could be in the hands of a few folks, from good to bad.  There could be better outcome from brighter minds, and if not, life is circular so could the path of a city.

Still a beautiful city as I went through the HKU MTR station and took a hike up the Victoria Peak.

Posted in Dear Diary