漸入深秋，日短夜長，增加點點淒清感覺。發展十五年的天水圍，上月發生駭人的家庭慘劇，官員草草趕往聆聽居民聲音，一半為收集意見、安撫民眾，一半為透過鏡頭提高官員曝光率。會議過後呢？當然是「積極跟進」。
不知從何時開始，天水圍區被標籤為「悲情城市」(推算是報章化題)，令這小社區更添憂愁。究竟，這區需要甚麼？這區又欠缺甚麼？
本月，去了一趟香港濕地公園，亦觀察了天水圍。
區內最早的一條屋村於92年落成，區內居住樓宇大部分屬於政府興建的居屋及公屋，私人屋苑屬少數。由於佔地廣，故樓宇建得高，與將軍澳相比，亦感覺較開揚。屋苑設施設計多以公共屋村作中心，有商場、街市、多層停車場，居屋則多與公屋作資源共用，可應付日常所需；屬於私人樓宇的嘉湖山莊，則有大型商場。當然，想作時尚購物或買西裝，則可能要請移玉步往屯門或元朗購買。
交通是一項較為頭疼的問題。區內走動，居民大多以單車代步，問題較少。由於部分生活設施需要依賴屯門或元朗的，路程遠，騎單車太遠，故居民需以巴士或鐵路接駁。大多數區內居民需要出區外工作，交通費用佔開支比例較高，亦找不到其他替代，變成SUNK COST。車程長，在香港工作普遍超時的情況下，加上每天花兩三小時在交通上，更進一步佔據了生活時間。
由於政府房屋分配政策(太多空置單位)使然，令區內多有新移民家庭、老夫少婦家庭。無工做，家庭出現問題，與香港的語言不通，沒有同鄉的互相扶持，造成問題越滾越大。縱使看見別人用錯誤的方法去解決問題，但自己又未能找到自己問題的正確方案，又找不到傾訴對象，令其產生連鎖反應，不幸接二連三的發生。
難判斷是誰跟誰的責任。但發現以前香港人特有的自強不息、默默耕耘的磨毅精神消失了。
深水步，是香港窮區之一，仍有居民住在板間房、靠拾荒維生，但他們那自力更生的堅強信念則重未中斷。(當然，多年來仍是窮區非好事一則)
抑或，是否中港婚姻的禍？香港男子到國內尋偶，大多打扮成小資本家的模樣，在國內女友面前大灑金錢，女方難免不信以為真，加上電視劇集渲染香港偏地黃金、發大財的機會順手拈來。結果女子抱著一切美好的憧憬橫過羅湖橋，接著幻想隨之破滅。
張立先生說得好，從儉進富每個人都適應，但從富入儉則非每人能吃得消；不適應的，不是溫飽問題，而是價值觀問題。
2007年11月23日 星期五
Thanksgiving? Or Day of Mourning?
Today is Thanksgiving Day, one of the most important and commonly observed holidays in the United States. Typically families would get together to have a lavish feast consisting of turkey, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato. This day is said to be the worst time to travel, as millions of people rush (fly, drive, ride) to return home at the same time. It goes without saying that this holiday is accompanied by drinking, football (American football, that is), and shopping.
Historically, Thanksgiving commemorates and celebrates the first harvest of the earliest settlers from England who landed in now Virginia and Massachusetts almost 400 years ago. As legend has it, in 1621, the English pilgrims—nay, colonizers—invited a group of Native Americans (Grand Sachem Massasoit and Wampanoag), who taught them how to fish, grow crops, and survive the harsh winter, to celebrate their first harvest and to give thanks to God. The English fed their guest for three days and the Native Americans in return brought 5 deer as gifts. History books tell us that the two peoples were grateful and respectful to each other and the feast was a manifestation of their mutually generosity and friendship.
And yet to Native Americans, Thanksgiving Day represents something very different. It is insulting and derogatory; it is a reminder of history, but not the one taught in history books written by the colonizers. Native American and their allies observe Thanksgiving as a day of mourning. They mourn the rape of their land and the massacre of their ancestors. It symbolizes the beginning of centuries of genocide, slavery, and injustice; it reminds them of the hideous crimes of their “generous and grateful” colonizers. The fact that it is a day of celebration is ironic, to say the very least.
Many would defend that the meaning behind the holiday has changed; that it is about giving thanks to one another; that it is a rare occasion when families would go out of their way and put aside conflicts to gather; that it is no longer associated with the tragedies and wrongdoings of the past. Some might also say that it is exactly because of the past conflicts that we should highlight the positive events between the two cultures/peoples; that we should celebrate friendship not again and again remind how wide the fissure between the Natives and the European-Americans is; that we should move on.
But move on how and to where? Can the victors unilaterally tell the victims to let go of the past and move on and celebrate the friendship they once shared? Can we and should we strip away the meaning and history of such an important holiday? Can we celebrate when others mourn? Can we forget before we were forgiven? Can we reconcile when the injustice from the past is yet to be reconciled and in fact still exists in a different form, described with a different language?
Certainly no one would admit that they are celebrating the massacre of millions of Native Americans with millions of turkey (46 millions each year, to be more precise). But when your neighbor, from whom you took the land you now live on, is still mourning and grieving their lost and still suffering, isn’t it only respectful to not commemorate it with joy (and unnecessary bingeing)? Shouldn't this be a time to solemnly remind ourselves the true history of this country, and the tragedy behind the prosperity of the New World? Shouldn’t this time be spent on reconciling with the victims of colonization and the subsequent “inner colonization”? Shouldn’t this be a time to eradicate similar oppressions perpetrated here and elsewhere?
If we were to give thanks on this very day, we should be giving thanks to those who have forgiven us. Their forgiveness is a grace that contemporary United Statsians do not deserve.
Christian Chan
Day of Mourning, 2007
Cambridge, MA
Historically, Thanksgiving commemorates and celebrates the first harvest of the earliest settlers from England who landed in now Virginia and Massachusetts almost 400 years ago. As legend has it, in 1621, the English pilgrims—nay, colonizers—invited a group of Native Americans (Grand Sachem Massasoit and Wampanoag), who taught them how to fish, grow crops, and survive the harsh winter, to celebrate their first harvest and to give thanks to God. The English fed their guest for three days and the Native Americans in return brought 5 deer as gifts. History books tell us that the two peoples were grateful and respectful to each other and the feast was a manifestation of their mutually generosity and friendship.
And yet to Native Americans, Thanksgiving Day represents something very different. It is insulting and derogatory; it is a reminder of history, but not the one taught in history books written by the colonizers. Native American and their allies observe Thanksgiving as a day of mourning. They mourn the rape of their land and the massacre of their ancestors. It symbolizes the beginning of centuries of genocide, slavery, and injustice; it reminds them of the hideous crimes of their “generous and grateful” colonizers. The fact that it is a day of celebration is ironic, to say the very least.
Many would defend that the meaning behind the holiday has changed; that it is about giving thanks to one another; that it is a rare occasion when families would go out of their way and put aside conflicts to gather; that it is no longer associated with the tragedies and wrongdoings of the past. Some might also say that it is exactly because of the past conflicts that we should highlight the positive events between the two cultures/peoples; that we should celebrate friendship not again and again remind how wide the fissure between the Natives and the European-Americans is; that we should move on.
But move on how and to where? Can the victors unilaterally tell the victims to let go of the past and move on and celebrate the friendship they once shared? Can we and should we strip away the meaning and history of such an important holiday? Can we celebrate when others mourn? Can we forget before we were forgiven? Can we reconcile when the injustice from the past is yet to be reconciled and in fact still exists in a different form, described with a different language?
Certainly no one would admit that they are celebrating the massacre of millions of Native Americans with millions of turkey (46 millions each year, to be more precise). But when your neighbor, from whom you took the land you now live on, is still mourning and grieving their lost and still suffering, isn’t it only respectful to not commemorate it with joy (and unnecessary bingeing)? Shouldn't this be a time to solemnly remind ourselves the true history of this country, and the tragedy behind the prosperity of the New World? Shouldn’t this time be spent on reconciling with the victims of colonization and the subsequent “inner colonization”? Shouldn’t this be a time to eradicate similar oppressions perpetrated here and elsewhere?
If we were to give thanks on this very day, we should be giving thanks to those who have forgiven us. Their forgiveness is a grace that contemporary United Statsians do not deserve.
Christian Chan
Day of Mourning, 2007
Cambridge, MA
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