Too much noise?

We are so much bomboarded by noise 24/7. I just wonder if and when we can have a moment of serenity. Whether you are in the bus, in the train, on the street, noises are generated from the billboards, the TV, and worst of all, the people who literally yell at each other in order to have a so-called conversation. Do we need this much noise 24/7? It is just horrendous.

One of the scenarios I experience on a regular basis is people enjoy gossiping and talking in a jam-packed lift. They are so naive by engaging everyone (though passively), whether you are interested or not, in their gossips or conversations. Why should we even bother about other's business, especially in a lift? Strange Hongkongers.

On another occasion, some people just enjoy producing sound when eating a bowl of noodles or drinking their soup. Yesterday I was just by myself during lunch time in a cosy cafe. All of a sudden, I noticed this 40+ man dressed in suit was sipping his soup with sound. It was really terrible.

The worst that we come across is our neighbour upstairs who seems to enjoy chopping her food early in the morning on the kitchen floor. Does she think she is still living in rural China where she can do whatever she wants without complying the rules? She does seem to be feeding an army of people. Can she be more considerate, thinking that we, her neighbour downstairs is still sleeping in the early morning and cannot stand the noise at all? Endless complaints cannot change an uncivilised person like her. Unfortunately, if you look around, they are everywhere in the city.

We claim our city to be cosmopolitan and international. We consider ourselves civilised. I really wonder.

to live or not to live

This morning I was listening to a radio interview with a HK patient who is paralysed due to an accident and has been hospitalised for over a decade. Few years ago, he was featured in a documentary for he wanted the government to grant him the right to mercy killing. It has stirred a lot of discussions in the media. He even wrote to the Chief Executive to pledge for his right.

Ever since his story was featured in a documentary, he was visited by a lot of people including some known public figures such as the politicians, celebrities, journalists, doctors, etc. It was when his life was changed immensely. While he was laying in bed for over a decade, all he did was nothing but remembering the past and imagining the future (if ever he had one). His story and the message was communicated through the media. It was when his life has been completely changed. Because of donations, he went through an operation which made it possible for him to talk and move using wheelchair though he still has to rely on others to take care of his everyday life.

The turning point is that, as explained by him frankly, he still wants to live though believing that he should be granted to right to mercy killing (though he does not necessarily have to exercise this right). His life has a lot more surprises now, filled up by his determination to continue writing books. He never thought he could be a writer. Since he was visited by lots of people, he was encouraged to do more than he could have imagined. He started writing a book and when it was 90% done, he sent the proposal to the publisher which was then accepted right away. That really excited him a lot. The result was more than he has expected. His story really has touched many hearts in Hong Kong. His second book was published just now about the failure the famous people have experienced. The story is published to encourage people to learn from failures.

The debate about whether to allow mercy killing is always on. From a patient's point of view, if one has to suffer that much, s/he may want to shorten the suffering through mercy killing. One has the right to choose, whether to live his life or not. However, others believe that one should value life, or least the life one still has, regardless of the sufferings or sickness. Life is precious. The question is, if your family member is suffering so much, do you still want him/her to experience so much pain? The process of enduring pain could be ten times worse than living (though I never experienced it and hope I or any of my family had to). I tend to believe that an individual should have the right to choose to live/die with his/her dignity.

I remember I once watched a movie called 'Mar Adentro' by Alejandro Amenábar, a Chilean director which is an intelligent movie on human dignity. It touches on the conversial issue of mercy killing. The ending was a subtle one. It is worth watching though shocking as well.

Size really matters

My US trip has stopped ever since I started my Italian one, as you guys probably know why. It was a new experience for me to be in the US again after my European experience. I do see things in a different perspective.

Arriving at the US, I feel like it is the living proof of what I see in soap operas like ‘Friends’, or ‘Joey’. You keep hearing ‘whatcha guys doing here?’, ‘hey, what’s up, man?’, ‘how are you?’, etc..

What truly surprises or impresses me is everything has doubled, the drinks, the coffee, the cakes, the cookies, let alone the people! I realize size really matters in the US. No wonder USA has the highest number of obese.

A question just pops out of my mind, ’should I start doubling my size then?’ Soon I realize I am quite small over here even though I am quite big according to Hong Kong standard where girls are extremely skinny or even boney. No kidding! Everything doubles, be it size, sweetness or fatness. Worst than that, everything is sweeter. Even for Alejandro who has a sweet tooth, it is way too sweet. This makes me even cautious of what I eat and drink.

American food is all about hamburgers, steaks, ribs or fries. I wonder if Americans ever thought about quality food. Quality does matter more than quantity. The impact of globalization is being exemplified here in the US. Why are there only Starbucks, McDonald’s, Jack-in-the-box, not anything else? Big names are really dominant here. Interestingly, Americans talk about democracy, about freedom. Yet consumers are faced with no choice or restrained choice. Isn’t that fair to consumers who want to have alternatives?

In Europe, there are a lot of more choices, even restaurants offering home-made meals can survive or tiny life cafes located somewhere in the small little town. I really miss having a choice or the freedom to choice.

After all, you want to be in a place where quality is being valued. It simply tells you how grounded people are by caring about quality rather than quantity.

Written on 1 August 2005

The Past vs. The Present

‘New things are incomparable to the old ones,’ says a Chinese proverb. How true is that? Have we ever thought about why we prefer new to old? We are always taught to look forward instead of looking back. Does the past really mean something to us?

It does in Italy. Walking around the city of Cuneo located in the province of Torino in Northern Italy, you feel like you have landed at the medieval town. Surrounded by buildings of over thousands of years, you start to wonder if you ever belong to this place. Arcaded streets with very long boulevards can be found in Cuneo with stones, bricks, rounded arches and square courtyards. You are striding through a city of old medieval centre with eight-hundred-year of history separated by the new one that is more developed surrounded by more recent buildings.

Like every city in Italy, there is always a “piazza” situated in the centre of the city. Cuneo does have its own called piazza Galimberti. The “piazza” is ‘the’ place to be when it comes to meeting people, mingling and chatting (which is surely loved by Italians!). It is one of the landmarks of the city. More fascinating are the fountains as well as the wooden benches encircling it. As I was told later, in ancient times, the piazza was a meeting point where a lot of intellects and scientists were bred.

There are always some reasons that bring me back to this ‘village’, Cuneo. Recalling first meeting Alejandro’s friends back home ages ago, when asked how I thought about Cuneo, I was saying that it was a village to me. Guess my answer must have shocked his friends. (I hope they forgive me as I am a city girl.) Gradually I am starting to feel and experience this city with a new perspective and understanding. I am surprised how the locals are so proud of their historical past as well as being part of the history.

Growing up in a colonial city, I am never aware of this nor do I have interest towards the historical past. There are neither feelings nor emotions attached to it. The history of Hong Kong to me lacks the cultural appeal. My trip to Italy does awaken something inside me. Should we start thinking about our historical past and our culture? How are we going to preserve our history and culture? What is our root?

In Italy, or perhaps in Europe, too, I believe, they treasure everything historical from buildings, museums, paintings to architecture, churches and many others which we might call ‘old’, or ‘obsolete’. The oldest the better simply because it brings out the best of a society and it is where its culture is rooted.

Hong Kong used to be called ‘the desert of culture’. How true is that? Here in Hong Kong, everything is measured in terms of time and money. All people care about is how much you are making, how successful you are, etc. Yet how many of us are really aware of our historical past? It looks like our cultural and historical past is gradually fading. Hong Kong is unique in itself due to its colonial past. Has a new type of culture (blended with East and West) bred locally?

Without the past, present would never have existed. While looking ahead, I really want to take some time looking into the historical past of my culture and most importantly my root. After all, a culture tells you everything you need to know about the people.

Written on 1 August 2005

America

This July and August, I have enjoyed my long vacation during which I have the luxury to indulge myself into the local television programs which definitely gives me more insights into the American society as well as its people.

Interestingly, most of the programs can be categorized into a few types: soaps, therapy shows, reality shows or makeover shows. Soaps, as reflected by the name, are programs that are just for a laugh or for fun. Amazingly and surprisingly, there are tons of therapy shows where people appear on national television to voice and confront their problems, whether personal, relationship or marital with a professional giving them proper advice and counseling. Before I watched these shows, I never realized that there were so many people out there with those many problems. Is it really? I am not too sure. You may find yourself enjoying lots of reality shows where you can truly experience the real life of celebrities, following them through every bit of their daily life. Are we, the audiences, really interested in peeping into the secrets of the celebrities or it’s simply a way for all the parties involved to make money?

Those therapy shows such as ‘The Elder Show’, ‘the Maury Show’ I see on TV really is brainwashing people in the way that if you watch it every single day, then you may start to think that you have tons of problems yourself. It seems that everyone has problems. Worst of all, they are encouraged to bring their problems to a larger scale by appearing on national TV. But why? I would have never imagined myself having the guts or courage (if there is such a need) being humiliated or even scolded at in front of millions and millions of people on the national TV. What is the point though? What really shocked me is that those appearing on TV do know what their problems are and do understand at one point that they themselves have to change to make something work. Why do they need an expert to re-confirm their decision? Or is it just a vicious cycle? Perhaps people love to appear on TV while shows desperately want to have people with problems to show up to arouse the interests of the audience, and most importantly enough advertising dollars to sustain the programs. Honestly, there are at least more than two programs of similar genre aired every day. Can’t you believe it? Though I have watched it few times a week, I simply feel like I have seen a lot because they all keep repeating the same pattern of problems. Imagine if you have been watching these programs all your life, what sort of impact are they going to make? Tremendous.

I start to wonder what kind of society the Americans are living in. Seems pathetic but at the same time, what sort of role have the US media take on?

Obviously there are ups and downs in life. But is it necessary to make it like those problems are larger than life? Problems are part of our life and you learn to deal with them and then move on.

Talking about reality shows, the most recent one is ‘Tommy Lee goes to college’. A famous rock star decided to go back to college and experience college life. He is being followed by camera most of the time, being filmed of whatever he does in college, attending lectures, being with the tutor, in the dorm, practicing in the band, etc. Life of celebrities do always arouse a lot of public interest. Yet it seems like this kind of reality show is common place, one after another, initially with Osbourne family, then Victoria Gotti, and now Tommy Lee. Sure more will follow. After all, why do people care about how they live? They just lead an ordinary life. The only difference is that they are famous while we are not. These programmes come to a point that they have nothing to offer to the audience, not even the slightest amount of entertainment element when everything, you know is being faked since it is a show, one that is going to call for lots of advertising dollars obviously.

In-between TV programmes, I am totally surprised how much you are bombarded by TONS, literally tons of commercials selling drugs, curing the very basic illness such as insomnia, allergy to diabetes, headache and many more. It seems like drug is the answer to all kind of sicknesses. Is it? I am afraid not. I simply believe that, the more drugs you take, the sicker you are, or you will be. Don’t forget the fact that drugs, those it has never been hugely advertised, do always have side effects. Imagine if you are taking a few types of drugs at the same time, you are not even aware of the effect or side effects they may cause your body. Simply give it a second thought. Who benefits from this whole thing? Pharmaceutical companies, of course. They are public-listed companies who have the responsibility to make sure the company is making huge amount of profits. The more drugs they sell, the more lucrative the sales will be. What I am more concerned is one’s own health. I grew up in an environment where we always resort to western medicine. Yet the past couple of years, I started to get myself into knowing more about Chinese medicine or at least a more natural way of healing. Every way of healing always has its pros and cons. At the end of the day, what is natural does the best to your body and health.

Just imagine how much drugs commercials average American are watching every day. How healthy are the Americans?

I also got caught by some makeover shows where some audience, mostly women, were invited to join in the makeover. Either they are too fat or they are too old-fashioned. This sort of makeover may involve more than changing style. Sometimes, it may involve surgical or non-surgical plastic surgery. It is more about the ‘external appearance’, the way you look, the way that is acceptable or expected from the society. Totally amazing! What does it tell us? A society which cares more about the ‘outside’ than the ‘inside’. People are really obsessed about it especially women who are totally obsessed with big boobs.

Watching television can be entertaining at times, especially for someone like me who grew up with television and I was definitely a big fan though I do not indulge in watching TV except with my favourite TV channel, Discovery Travel and Adventure which takes you around the world without actually hopping on the plane? Isn’t that amazing?

From my one-month intensive experience of watching local TV, I can tell you that you can be sure of gaining some insights about the society and its people from television. It does have some truths in it. Hong Kong is not yet far from the path America is going through right now. We have quite some programmes on makeover, on successful cases of losing weight. A lot of countries are modeling on America in a number of ways. It seems that we have modeled on the cons rather than the pros of its culture.

Media, as we all know, can create significant impact. What sort of social and moral role should it take on? How can media balance between performing their business and social responsibility?

Honestly, the American media, in the so-called democratic society with tons of freedom, you may be surprised by the almost-zero coverage of international news or news that may affect the government by the news programmes. There is therefore no surprise how little Americans know about the world. China used to be called ‘Middle Kingdom’. I believe America deserves this name better than China. Everything seems to be evolving amongst America or Americans except that most Americans probably do not know how the rest of the world hates America and definitely Americans, represented by Bush Administration.

This is in fact not to be a generalization of what I think of America or American. Frankly, I have met some Americans who really care about the world and things happening around them and do not mix up China with Japan. There was an American couple I met at the bookstore who impressed me with how much they knew about world history and how much they cared about things happening around them, and how much they loved knowing other cultures and other people. Most importantly, they are aware of how Americans are not being liked by the rest of the world. There are always a lot of exceptions. But what you see is probably the general phenomenon of the average American.

Written on 26 August 2005

A lesson from the children

Reading has been a part of my life, the joy of which is not describable by words. There is one book which inspires me a lot, called ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’. It tells a story between a student and his dying professor, in which a lot of meaningful lessons from life were being taught again.

We, adults, probably would have never thought that we can learn from children. Yet my short encounter with children at school does tell me that you can!

Think we may not realize how many qualities of ours slip by as we grow up due to a number of reasons. Can you still remember the time when you were a kid, being so carefree and so spontaneous? What happen with us, adults?

Children I have worked with show tremendous amount of energy. Whereas, we are always running out of energy. Their curiosity does not seem to end which really impresses me. One thing that we may not be aware of is that, it is curiosity that helps breed some of the greatest scientists of the world such as Einstein. Interestingly, children are extremely direct and spontaneous when it comes to talking. There were times when some of my students told me, ’Oh! Your necklace is beautiful.’ Or on another occasion, they loved to complement me the way I looked or simply told me that they loved learning English. What can be better than receiving complements from children?!

Children just dare to show their real selves. They are who they are though at times, they are really away from being called innocent nor naive from the way they talk or interact with their peers. A good example was a case where some kids tried to isolate this one kid (sadly, he did not look like a smart kid by appearance though it did not mean that he was not good anything) who did not have the proper social skills. I then asked them why they did that. They simply told me that that one kid was not as “clever” as they were. I was totally shocked. I could not help telling them that how clever they thought they were.

Luckily, my experience with people is so far quite smooth. I am happy to have met a lot of great people along my life, wherever they are though at times, you meet superficial people. That’s life!

Working with children also taught me the importance of listening. A lot of times, we love to talk plus we have so much to talk about, or to complain about. It is hard to be a good listener though I am learning to be one. I remember when I first started teaching, I was always thinking of what to teach and how to teach it. Then, through one conversation with a great colleague of mine, we realized if we ever truly listened carefully. It made a whole lot of difference when you really listened and understood your audiences, who in this case, were the children. Listening, I must say, matters as much as talking. If you never listen, how can you even carry on the conversation with the others. This is just so useful to every part of our life.

Children have a strong zest for learning. Their passion is so intense that sometimes, as a teacher, I may not know very well how to deal with it. They dare to ask, stupid or clever, to-the-point questions. Or things that you would never have thought of. If you dare to ask, you are half way through success. I remember when I went to school, teachers seemed to love kids who did not ask too many questions which could be interpreted as studious and obedient. It is core to our culture where we are taught to obey the adults. The authority of the adults/seniors is never to be questioned. And, we are so used to the spoon-feeding type of education. People hardly dare to speak up. The same phenomenon went through university education as well.

The real shock came when you work for a very American organization where they expect you to actively participate no matter what. It is an experience that I will never forget. Previously I worked with a lot of Americans, I did encounter cultural shock at the very beginning, trying to adjust to an entirely different working culture. For someone as outgoing and talkative as I was, speaking up spontaneously in a business environment was not a piece of bread for me surprisingly. Reason being is that working with Hong Kong Chinese, a lot of time, bosses are always intimidated by very daring or spontaneous staff. There is certain truth to the fact that some incapable Managers dare not hire someone who outweighs them in qualifications or work experience. Yet as a matter of survival as well as having the need to fit in, I soon then adjusted myself and spoke up as much as I could and regularly jumped in with new ideas or thoughts which was a way of getting yourself involved and indulge deeply and whole-heartedly into whatever you did.

As true as it seems, silence is not always ‘golden’.

Written on 21 August 2005