Sitting at home, I could not stop thinking about the continuous controversial news about Hong Kong. China officially blocked NBA simply because the Rocket manager Daryl Morey tweeted “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” (Source). Apple removes app that helps Hong Kong protesters track the police after receiving critics from the China’s state media (Source).
All of a sudden, I recall the night when I came back from my birthday party: I cried loudly in front of my computer watching Facebook videos showing Hong Kong police using tear gas and pepper spray in indoor environments to force protesters to leave. I started crying because I know the protesters can be my close friends, my HKU alums, and people who I have not met but also love Hong Kong a lot like me.
The situation today is so ironic that I wonder where else in the world would these things happen. Where will hundreds of thousands of people need an App to track the local police and to get rid of them to fight for freedom/basic human rights? Where will thousands of people need to protest continuously for more than 6 months just for justice?
However, till today, many people do not share the concerns and fear that many Hong Kong people have. The reason is fairly simple: because these outsiders do not have empathy, and they never put themselves in the shoes of those Hong Kong protesters. The outsiders usually do have multiple backup options if Hong Kong’s situation becomes worse. They do not care about the future of Hong Kong but only care about their current interest, because they can move to anywhere if they have enough money. They do not respect Hong Kong people as the owners of this land but consider Hong Kong to be their (the outsiders’) own assets – they would ask the local people to leave if they can.
I started asking myself: what is the most important thing in one’s life? To me, it is sticking to my value, being a good person, and having empathy for all the people – especially the ones who are not like me.
However, seeing a large group of people who received the best education in the world but did not really have any empathy for Hong Kong, I doubted about our education system.