We are number one - for the wrong reasons

Hong Kong just earned the unenviable position of being "the most toilsome" of Chinese cities, according to a poll by Xinhuanet, an online arm of the Xinhua News Agency.

Here is what the poll, for which Xinhuanet did not give details of its method and size, found out about Hong Kong:

Work is at breakneck pace.
Working overtime is the catchword of the people.
The more people work, the less time they have for workout, for having a good meal, for television, and for love.
The turnover rate of the labour force is high - in part due to mass layoffs and fierce wars for talents among companies.

Hong Kong people should not find the findings surprising. Many of us do have enormous pressure at work and little time to enjoy life. While Xinhuanet said Hong Kong merits "the vibrant and dynamic" tag, one has to ask whether it is worth it.

The easy thing versus the right thing

"There are only two kinds of people in the twenty-first century," Singer turned environmental activist Lowell Lo said when he was recently interviewed by a local magazine. "99% of the people do the easy things while 1% do the right things."

In examining the truth of the assertion, let us not quibble about the precision of the percentage as Lo probably just meant to talk about the overwhelming majority and minority. I think he is right about many people choosing to do the easy things, especially when the modern technology and affluence actually perpetuate it. How many people will walk when transport is so affordable and convenient? How many people will both to have a malfunctioning device repaired when buying a new one is not that much more expensive? How many people will bring their own box or bottle when purchasing food and drinks instead of buying the packaged items?

But I'm not so sure about very few people doing the right things. The problem is that rightness is judged differently by different people. Regardless of whether they fool themselves, hypnotise themselves or convince themselves into believing that they are doing the right things, in most cases people think or claim that they are doing the right things. It's always hard to get people to admit or accept that they are not doing the right things. Who is to judge? Who are we to judge?

Or, how about things which people wouldn't say is exactly right but is not wrong either. What's wrong with some means of making a quick buck which doesn't harm anyone, like compensated dating?

When it comes to what is right and what is not, things are not always very clear-cut. And finally, is it possible that the easy things and the right things are not mutually exclusively? Are easy things necessarily wrong?

A "panoramic life review"

The experience of coming back from the brink of death as recounted by CY Lam in the seminar I referred to two days ago is not uncommon. The following passage from the book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying talks about something similar:

"...how much have we really understood about life and death? I have been inspired by the reports that have appeared in the studies on the near death experience... A striking number of those who survive near-fatal accidents or a near-death experience describe a "panoramic life review." With uncanny vividness and accuracy, they relive the events of their lives... Sometimes the life review takes place in the company of a glorious presence, a "being of light." What stands out from the various testimonies is that this meeting with the "being" reveals that the only truly serious goals in life are "learning to love other people and acquiring knowledge." One person recounted...: "When the light appeared, the first thing he said to me was, 'What have you done to show me that you've done with your life?'... All through this, he kept stressing the importance of love... He seemed very interested in things concerning knowledge too..." Another man [said]: "I was asked... 'What had I done to benefit or advance the human race?'"

The tick that Mr CY Lam found himself deserving could then be the outcome of having loved other people, acquired knowledge or helped advance the human race in his lifetime, or a combination of these.

Would we get a tick like Mr Lam when we die or would we not? Maybe we should pay attention to how Sogyal Rinpoche the writer summed up the point and make a wise choice today:

"Whatever we have done with our lives makes us what we are when we die. And everything, absolutely everything counts."

Did you ever panic?

When CY Lam, the speaker of the seminar on crisis management I attended yesterday, was asked whether there was ever any situation in which he felt he was in crisis, he reflected for a moment and said: "I really can't think of any."

He went on to say that he didn't panic even when he fell off a horse in Mongolia and had to be rushed to hospital for a brain surgery. "Like what happened to many people who have rubbed shoulders with death, events in my life raced through in my mind at that brief moment. Two thoughts came up. The first was that I got a tick for how I had lived my life. The second was that I had been able to share my life with this woman who had started with being a stranger but was now worried sick about my life. I realised then that I had been very lucky. But no, I didn't panic at all."

Near death experiences like that can only be good for you, he concluded. That is in line with the views of many people who have got back their life after so nearly losing it.

You have to be untidy to be healthy

The title of this BBC article called "Untidy beds may keep us healthy" is music to my ears indeed.

Every morning, however much I am in a hurry, my conscience will stop me from following my urge of not making the bed before going to work. It keeps telling me that leaving the bedding in an unsightly heap is very sloppy.

Now that there is scientific evidence that not making my bed in the morning may actually make me healthy, I may perhaps be more true to my temperament.

According to a UK study, house dust mites, which are believed to cause asthma and other allergies, cannot survive in the warm, dry conditions found in an unmade bed.
Untidy beds may keep us healthy

"We know that mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere using small glands on the outside of their body," Researcher Dr Stephen Pretlove of Kingston University said. "Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die."

House dust mites are linked to asthma
Failing to make your bed in the morning may actually help keep you healthy, scientists believe.

Research suggests that while an unmade bed may look scruffy it is also unappealing to house dust mites thought to cause asthma and other allergies.

A Kingston University study discovered the bugs cannot survive in the warm, dry conditions found in an unmade bed.

The average bed could be home to up to 1.5 million house dust mites.

The bugs, which are less than a millimetre long, feed on scales of human skin and produce allergens which are easily inhaled during sleep.

The warm, damp conditions created in an occupied bed are ideal for the creatures, but they are less likely to thrive when moisture is in shorter supply.

Isn't it great news that being untidy does not necessarily mean being unhealthy!

Crisis management

Today I attended a wonderful seminar on crisis management given by C.Y. Lam, former director of the Hong Kong Observatory. Here are the points I summed up:

How problems and crises come about

• Change is complicated. Change is happening faster and faster.
• Human troubles began about 10,000 years ago when farming began. Farming led to humans having to guard their land, patriarchical society, system, management, conflict, etc.
• Human society became increasingly complicated. Today It is like we are living in a state of "invisible serfdom" in which we are not in control and do not know who the boss is.

Fortunately for humans, we are well equipped to handle crisis. There are seeds of happiness in us. We have more answers than questions, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to survive the test of nature.

Here is how to deal with crisis:

• Use teamwork and communication.
• Operate on care, kindness and optimism.
• Remain sober and do not get worked up.
• Do not back off.
• Let go of your ego. Accept that you have intrinsic limitations and that things do not always happen as youwish.
• Change your perspective. Imagine how the crisis in the present will be looked at in the future, say thirty years later. Will it still matter? Will anyone still remember?
• Crisis offers opportunities. New situations produce new possibilities.

I particularly like his conclusion that we can always enrich our intuition with rationalism, common sense and positive values. We can then try to solve any crisis with our intuition and optimism.

Selflessly serve others

In introducing the second virture of enlightening living, Robin S. Sharma used the symbol of a lighthouse to represent the purpose of life.

It is easy to say that "the purpose of life is a life of purpose", but it is not quite so easy to identify the purpose of one life. I am sure that there are some lost souls out there who have spent a lifetime without finding it or some who haven't even tried.

Different people may have different purpose in life, but Sharma dropped a strong hint through the voice of Julian, the fictional character in his book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Asked what his Dharma is, he replied: "Mine is simple: to selflessly serve others."

This message of selflessly serving others is expanded in the Gospel yesterday, which was about this passage from Isaiah that Jesus read to those who were present at the synagogue:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Jesus followed up the reading by saying: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)

That passage from Isaiah 61 summed up the purpose of the life of Jesus. May the Spirit of the Lord also be upon us, and guide us to follow Jesus's example and make that the purpose of our life too.