Why do we want this Hong Kong?

Why do we try so hard to keep Hong Kong as it is, not to become just a part of China? 

Certainly not because it is perfect.  In fact, we are very angry with a lot of things.  Take recycling as an example.  Many of us are quite willing to do our part to recycle newspapers, other paper products, glass, plastic, metal, …  But Hong Kong lags so far behind most other civilised communities in recycling, it is pathetic.  We basically are doing nothing.  Hong Kong’s efforts in recycling paper consist of nothing more than shipping them to China.  When China refuses to take our waster paper, we are stuck. 

While China is becoming the leading producer and user in the world of renewable energy such as solar panels to generate electricity, what have we done?  Nothing. Zilch. Aren’t we supposed to be setting an example for China on modernization?  We should be ashamed.  

Housing for the poor, and even the middle class, has been said to be a top priority for decades, by multiple chief executives.  Yet the problem is getting worse and worse, not better and better.  

Public hospitals are so crowded, nurses and doctors are so overworked that it is unbearable.  Yet the government officials in charge seem to have no solutions.  If you cannot solve the problem, why are you occupying the post?

I once had the unenviable task of trying to explain to a failed politician masquerading as a government minister some educational initiative (service-learning).  It felt like speaking to a wall.  

Hong Kong’s education system is so examination-driven it is killing the curiosity of generations of young people, turning them into efficient but docile number crunchers and bean counters.  

Yet we are here again, marching on the street, against changing our law to make it easier to extract someone to the Mainland.  Why?  It is because we have better faith in the laws of Hong Kong.  We feel we have a much better chance of a fair trial and judgement.  We enjoy the relative openness and freedom of many sorts. 

If we feel something is important, we should treasure it and be willing to work hard to keep it.  That is why we are on the streets again.  I look around.  We are young and old, poor and middle class.  I saw one colleague, and heard that another was also here.  We are not alone.  We are Hong Kong.