I’ve never been interested in nor understood the other people’s patrioticism. For any country. The notion that one would want to fight, risk livelihood, reputation and personal safety, for a cause is so far removed from the sink-of-swim self-centred modus operandi pervading HK culture that my attitude to said activists has always been one of bemusement.
Lacking in role models who have broken out and made a difference in it in policy or the revision of populist attitudes (no matter how minute), I myself felt powerless and resigned to the same. That the world should, and would, follow such established hierarchies.
Or perhaps, and most likely, it was simply that I did not open my eyes. There have been a lot of protests, people value human rights or a particular vision for the future and they have stood up for it. I feel stupid and hollow to think what I have not seen, and I wonder what I’ve done with myself all this time.
I don’t know exactly how my parents feel. I sense that they feel these activists are troublemakers, but I can’t say for certain. Both were avid consumers of general media whilst I’ve lived with them, but if they had opinions they certainly never bothered to voice them to me.
I feel sad that we’ve not progressed since Tiennamen Square but also I am moved by the River Crabs and other netizens whose thirst for information and knowledge lead them to expose news under the Chinese government’s iron censorship fist.
I feel it’s important that this is not buried. I want to contribute, to raise awareness. I want to be a part of this.
