Love is, still, all around us

Ben Kwok December 23, 2020 10:47

If you, like me, would watch “Love Actually” over Christmas, you would find this movie opening particularly moving this year.

“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that..

“When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.”

The above saying from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the movie had an easier Christmas than the incumbent Boris Johnson who got a bitter taste of the early Brexit as his neighbors and other countries such as Hong Kong would not welcome its visitors because of the British mutation virus.

Poor thing, Hong Kong for the first time turned away visitors from our former colonial master, many of whom were returning Hong Kong students as the city, just as other countries, attempted to keep the Covid-19 under control in what is known as the fourth wave.

For almost a year, we are told not to hug or kiss each other because we do not want to risk catching a very infectious disease. For a change, we do not travel and mostly practise “Work From Home” because we want to keep human interaction to a minimum.

And this Christmas, there is little holiday mood because holiday only means staying home as the government from coast to coast would suggest their citizens to cut down their family gatherings and practise social distancing, as seen in the Virtual Pop Choir in Vancouver’s popular parody based on Mariah Carey’s classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You”.

I don’t want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need
I need you to keep your distance
At least 6 feet away from me
I want to hear your lovely tone
But only over Zoom or phone
Together, we’ll pull through!
I will social distance from you!

I don’t want a lot for Christmas
There’s just a few more things I need
A mask that doesn’t fog my glasses Fashionable PPE
I won’t even hang my stocking
I’ve boarded up my fireplace Santa, you’re a Super-spreader!
Get the f*** out of my face!
I just want to bend the curve
For the people that I lurrrrve
Together, we’ll pull through!
I will social distance from you!

Still nothing can stop people from caring and loving for each other. We can still share our motions via WhatsApp (or WeChat, or Signal) and Facebook (Weibo or MeWe).

Thanks to this very Covid Christmas, we just need to learn to not seeing but missing each other and praying for a happy gathering some other time.

Have a peaceful and healthy holiday break and Merry Christmas!

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Ben Kwok

EJ Insight writer