A Heavy Heart

In passing conversation, a friend asked a remarkable question. He asked me why the lives of those in the Manila hostage incident were more valuable than those which were lost in Haiti, Iraq or even Pakistan. My response was this: We never associate tragedies of others until they happen close to home. This is perhaps a harsh reality to accept but no less true.

We never associate the catastrophes we see on the news until it the reality of it happens to a place or a people we consider as familiar. My sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the hostage situation in Manila yesterday. There are no words to describe the grief or express the pain which we, as a community, feel in its wake. Hong Kong has always been seen as one of the safest cities in the world. Too small to cause ripples in the international scene, we are like a mini Switzerland – neutral in all things surrounding our little haven be they politics or art. A diminutive city with an astounding population, Hong Kongers have often mistakenly been disparaged as a distant and unsympathetic people. It is true that we are not as warm as the Malaysians nor can we claim that we are as hospitable as the Thai but today, as our grief unites us, the world will awaken to the fact that regardless of what they believe, we are always there for each other. Our government has stepped up to charter a plane not only to bring back the traumatized, the grieving and the dead but also to carry our very own doctors, psychologists and social workers to those in need. The message is clear; we take care of our own.