Loud

The world is a loud place; loud not just in terms of auditory sensations, but also in visual and other forms of stimulation, including tactile. However, visual and auditory assaults are probably the more common types we have to face day in and day out.

One day, I walked past a Catholic high school and, suddenly, an image caught my eye. A display board above the entrance to the school was rolling out colorful, electronic messages announcing that evening courses were now open for enrollment.

I was fascinated. Was it really necessary to be displaying such messages? Would they be useful in attracting students? If even a Catholic school, which I assumed would be more subtle in its actions, would do something like that, what could one expect of secular institutions?

Nowadays, it seems that, to be heard, we have to make loud statements We protest, prepare elaborate publicity strategies, create stunts and make dramatic moves for fear that, if we don’t, we will be ignored. Do we have to be loud to be heard? Does nobody care unless we are loud?

Everything and everyone is competing for attention. We are drowning in all kinds of sensory messages. But are all of the incoming messages useful or meaningful to us as we live our lives?

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.

City landscapes

My city is a fascinating place. Pardon me for saying so, although I believe everyone must feel more or less the same toward their own town or city. Beneath the glamour of the central district in Hong Kong, the city is very Chinese at heart.

Shatin, the town where I live, has a population of 600,000 to 700,000. A huge town by any standard, it is one of the earliest developed satellite towns in Hong Kong. Despite its development, it is rather rural at heart in many aspects. 

We have a wet market in the town centre. Every day, you can see lots of older men and women sitting in the small gathering places outside the wet market to socialize. They like to go into banks to speak with the teller in person, rather than using machines. You see them wearing traditional outfits. (I am not referring to traditional Chinese clothing, but the way traditional older men or women normally dress— in an old-fashioned way.)

Corner of a wet market

Sights in Shatin are not the same as those seen by tourists in downtown Hong Kong. Shatin is more rural, its landscape more diverse. It is not quite the concrete jungle that Hong Kong is famous for. And, of course, there are other satellite towns that are similar to Shatin. That is why, to see the real Hong Kong, visitors should explore the suburbs.

The city landscape is as diverse as it can be. In the photos below is a “spider man,” a construction worker on bamboo scaffolding. This is how some construction is done in Hong Kong, using bamboo to build scaffolding, not steely cages made of nuts and bolts and iron rods.

A spider man

I hope you enjoy these glimpses of my city’s landscape, mostly with our eyes on Hong Kong’s seniors, of course.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.