by Hans Ebert
It’s teamwork for everyone, not only the athletes. They are, of course, the main attraction, but us, their cheerleaders, add to the coming together of that one team, one world Kumbaya celebration.
It makes a huge difference to our well being and how this becomes a chain reaction of positivity in a city divided and fractured for the last couple of years.
These days, there’s more than some trepidation in picking up a newspaper. That front page story can make of break your mood. It certainly has an effect on my mood. It’s the difference between picking up the guitar and writing a song or going back to sleep.
Whether it’s releasing endorphins or something else, there’s something that results in either one or more Feel Good moments. Gawd knows we need them.
So, going through the Sunday Morning Post today, the breathing was more even and the shoulders were more relaxed.
It was good to read how the victory of our Edgar Cheung Ka-long at the Tokyo Olympics has seen a new interest in youngsters taking up fencing- and with fencing schools in Hong Kong seeing a renewed interest in what they have to offer.
There are fencing schools in Hong Kong? Who knew? Not yours truly.
There were positive Letters To The Editor about sports bringing people together. The regular cartoon by Harry on the same page showed two very different “classes” of Hong Kong Belongers at what looked like a yum cha teahouse.
They were standing next to each other cheering Hong Kong on while watching the city winning a Gold medal on television.
The resident bird at the tea house was joining in. Yes, the resident bird which is different to giving someone the bird.
There were pictorials of the various emotions of those competing in these Games from different wire services.
It was a refreshing change of pace from reading about the latest social distancing measures announced by the government and more of the same from around the world about vaccinations.
Of course, only Pollyanna will think all this will continue to happen and that we’re back singing “We Are The World”.
However, when these feelings happen, they should be embraced.
These are feelings that go way beyond looking again at different ways of making money.
These feelings have to do with being reminded about the priorities in life- real life priorities that many of us have somehow forgotten about by being too easily blindsided by mind bending online pirates.
What we’re seeing, at least for a short while, is about wellness and positivity and all that other good stuff.
Even the mysterious Hong Kong indie artist @surrealhk has joined in with a brilliant visual of Hong Kong swimmer Siobhan Haughey.
Maybe this is the reason for the story I started writing about for my own sanity. Maybe this is what it was leading to?
As Oliver Twist might say, “Please, sir, may I have more?” Wait, no.
Maybe in this mixed up world full of mixed nuts and click bait clutter, Oliver might not be so polite as to ask. He might demand for more.
I would. We deserve it.