Do Wishes Come True?

At the beginning of a new year we often make wishes.  Do they actually come true?  Do we really believe that they would come true?  Szeto Wah and many others have been fighting for justice for those who suffered and died in the June 4th Massacre for 20 years; yet Szeto Wah died without seeing justice being served.  He has been fighting for democracy in Hong Kong for much of his life; yet he died while true democracy remains a distant dream in Hong Kong.  Many, if not all, of us will probably do likewise.  

Can we truly believe democracy will be practised in the face of suffocating dictatorship and vested interests?  Can we truly believe equality will be achieved in the face of the obscenely wealthy?  Can we truly believe justice will be served in the face of overwhelming power?  Can we believe peace will be realized in the face of consuming hatred and evil?

Knowing human nature as it is, we cannot.  We, particularly many of our leaders, say one thing but do the opposite.  We claim to be compassionate, peace-loving, democracy-wanting and justice-seeking.  Yet our actions prove otherwise.   That’s the premise of one of the most popular books about China, which can only be published outside China.  History has taught us that wishes for equality, justice, peace and love rarely come true.  So why do we still make these wishes?  Are we simply deluding ourselves?  Or are we incurably stupid?

Based on what we know about human nature, there is little hope.  But there is someone more powerful than us humans.   The one who created the universe can do what we are not capable of.  He is the reason why we can hope when it seems impossible to remain hopeful.  God loves us and has proved it by sending his son to die for our sins. 

At the end of  余杰‘s book 中國影帝溫家寶, there is an appendix - a letter.  It is a plea for Wan to repent and believe in God.  It is, of course, practically impossible.  Yet God has not given up on us, and we have no right to give up.