1 April

1 April brings back some hollowing memories. Six years ago when Hong Kong was plagued by SARS, I was back here for my Easter holiday. I had never seen HK people being so deflated before. And I remember that night watching news report of Leslie Cheung killing himself. There were looks of disbelief on people's faces that face masks could not hide. People were afraid of being in contact with, or even talking to others, for fear of contracting, or spreading the deadly disease. It's certainly something I do not wish to have happened, but once HK had got through it, positive vibes appeared. Everyone seemed to have learnt a lesson. Being able to touch and talk to your family members was no longer taken for granted. During the post-SARS period a record number of HK people turned to Christ.

And a bit before SARS, we had the Asian financial crisis. I was at the tender age of 13 then. My only memory seems to be the stock market falling every day, accompanied with cases of suicide dominating the headlines. Convenient as it may seem, many people chose to throw themselves off tall buildings thanks to their abundance in the territory. How HK survived I don't remember, but all I know it's part of the economic cycle, and these things happen.

Now even though Asia seems to be doing better than the rest of the world, it's hard to say someone isn't affected at the slightest. When bad news strikes at such massive scale, when everyone's on a sinking boat, instead of blaming each other people turn to other forms of refuge. Bible sales have reportedly increased during this 'financial tsunami', as the HK people call it. Perhaps 'disasters' are needed so that some people would turn to their senses. While I'm not in a position to say why some 'bad', or unfair, or unfortunate things happen, all I know is it's up to me to bring something good out of it.