Radicalism is not in my blood. I come from a conservative family in a conservative town in a conservative country. The city and society I now live in is even more traditional. Matters that disturb me will elicit some heated whingeing and whining, sometimes in print, but that is where my protests end.
Hong Kong, for all its soberness, is changing me. The government is to blame. Inaction on fundamental problems, deceiving and blatant lying by its unelected officials are driving me to distraction. For the first time since my university days, I am giving serious consideration to grabbing a placard and taking to the streets.
This city has been my home for more than 21 years. My inability to read Chinese, and speak and understand more than essential words of Cantonese, make me an outsider.
But what I do know and comprehend about my environs mean that I am somewhere between one-third and one-half a Hongkonger. This may not seem a lot for so much experience, but it is enough to have given me a passion for Hong Kong and its people.
We should all be given a fair deal, no matter what our backgrounds or circumstances. Every citizen deserves a decent standard of living and a reasonable wage. The air that we breathe should be clean and the food we eat safe. These are basics and minimums; a government that does not provide these is ignoring its duties.
Our government and its bloated civil service are clearly not meeting expectations. If they were, rents would not be so unreasonably high. Supermarket chains would not be blatantly ripping off customers. The environment would be given a priority.