Happy November!
I decided to be happy in November and I
wish everyone happiness in November. I
came to such decision when I thought about the topic of the Editorial. I reviewed the past 10 issues in this year
and realized that most of them were gloomy and heavy. It is time to be happy, to relax and to
inspire hope.
Like most people, I first tired to figure
out a reason to be happy. November is
followed by December and there will soon be Christmas. November is the month when graduates, filled
with hope and joy, take photos in university campuses. In November, you can usually enjoy discounted
tours and flight tickets. November 2015
is better than November 2014 as there is no more mass demonstration. Or is it better? Maybe try the other way round: there is no
reason to be unhappy in November.
Finding a reason seemed not very much
inspiring. As I had written on before,
and exemplified by the teachings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, happiness is
the way to happiness. You do not need to
find a reason to be happy. You just need
to act to be and to become happy. This
is like some sort of behavioural therapy.
Sadly, acting happy is also as difficult as self behavioural
therapy. It is in fact more difficult,
because it is circular self bahavioural therapy. You are not happy, therefore you cannot act
happy. A hundred thousand dollar watch
would not move time faster in a boring meeting.
A 450PS car would still be caught in traffic jam, with the addiction
worry of an over-heated engine. There
are reasons why people down stronger and stronger coffee; and move from beer to
vodka.
I remembered in the past, going movie was
a big event. It was entertainment. Entertainment by definition should make you
happy. At least there was no harm
trying, as it was not costly. Nowadays
cinemas are more comfortable. It was not
a bad idea to fall asleep for a while for the whole 2 hours. I watched Bridge
of Spies and The Martian.
James Donovan (Tom Hanks) was a New York
insurance lawyer in 1957. By some
hard-to-believe reasons, he became the defense lawyer of a Russian spy Rudolf
Abel (Mark Rylance). He succeeded in
sparing Abel from the electric chair. He
then miraculously exchanged Abel for an American spy caught in the Soviet Union
and an innocent American student claimed to be a spy by East Germany. His success was because of his insistence and
his ever fighting. Steven Spielberg, the
director, convinced us by filing a constantly deeply frowned Donovan. I even got headache after watching his tense
corrugator supercilii for 2 hours. When
confronted with the whole world and then the FBI agent, Donovan explained, “My name’s Donovan. Irish, both sides, mother and father. I’m Irish, you’re German. But what makes us both Americans? Just one thing. One, one, one: the rule book. We call it the
Constitution and we agree to the rules.
And that’s what makes us Americans.
And it’s all that makes us Americans.
So don’t tell me there’s no rule book.” This was in stark contrast to the
expressionless face of Abel. When asked
by Donovan why he seemed not worried, he answered with a question: “Does it
help?”
In The
Martian, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) was left alone in Mars after an accident
during their mission. All he got was a
mission base with 300 odd days of food to support minimal daily calories. However, even if NASA found out that he was
alive there, a rescue team could only reach him in 4 years. Luckily he was a botanist and he invented
various “Home-alone” tools, techniques and strategies and “made a living” in
the Mars. He survived until somehow the
original space shuttle came to rescue just in time. Of course there were many accidents and near
escapes. What made the movie a fiction
was not all the pseudo-science. It was
how (come) Mark could always maintain his mood and spirit. He was, again, never giving up. As an over-kill move, the movie ended with
Mark teaching survival classes after his return. He preached, “At some point, everything’s gonna go south on you and you’re going to
say, this is it. This is how I end. Now you can either accept that, or you can
get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem and you solve the next
one, and then the next. And if you solve
enough problems, you get to come home.”
Mark survived. He was somewhat elated for the whole stay on
Mars. I was not sure it was because of
hyperbaric oxygen, food deprivation, or the vicodin he took with potatoes after
he ran out of ketchup. But I did not
think he was happy, either on Mars or back on Earth. Donovan was able to save three people, and
most importantly, to keep his faith to the rule book. He did not say that he was happy. Instead, he was tired.
After the movies, apart from the headache,
I was none the happier, but tired. What
kept echoing in my head was Abel saying, “Does it help?"
(Source: HKMA News November 2015)
