SHARING COMMON HUMANITY IN TIMES OF TRAGEDY

The aftermath of last Monday’s tragic hostage crisis has greatly altered the lives of those who were involved or has taken part in this hapless incident. The innocent victims and their families; the authorities and law enforces; the media people and us who have witnessed in horror whether from the actual site or from our television or radio, we each have been unwilling participants to this incident. Nobody among us wanted such incident to happen and how we wished it was resolved peacefully without anyone, including the hostage-taker, being killed. None of us condones such violent means to demand justice. Yet we may occasionally experience socio-political upheaval or endure geographical, ethnical or cultural divide, it has been shown from our history that we advocate peaceful resolution to every conflict. Moreover, we believe in the rule of law and adhere to the highest ideals of democracy. We never had anything in our culture that espouses intolerance or may indicate prejudice of people from other demography even when we were often the victims of such bigotry.

There is no doubt about the pain being experienced by the families of each victim and the outburst of sympathy being shared by every Hong Kong citizen. We are one in their grief. We mourn the lost of the lives of the people who had visited our island and had become our friends. How we wish they could return and share with us moments of fun and relaxation once again. But their tragic visit shall haunt us. We can only hope that our peoples can look beyond the hurt and move-on. Let us look not to each other as to our race, citizenship, gender or creed rather to our common humanity. We can celebrate life again. Together we can revel as we discover the unfolding of the beauty of our respective lands and cultures. We shall wait for the storm in our relations today to pave way to a brighter tomorrow with greater understanding and mutual trust.

For now, we honor the grieving and the memory of the innocent victims. We offer our sympathies and learn from whatever lesson this tragedy has taught us.

May Almighty God have mercy on us all and in His divine grace may we find consolation, enlightenment and peace of heart.