cab chat

My philosophy is that when things get really bad, they have to improve some how because they simply cannot get any worse. What goes down must also come up in the end. I think there are a lot of good things that have come out of this whole mess. First of all, we have forced the government to improve its conservative management style, made them more transparent and accountable to the public, and we have pulled the community together to fight against this common enemy.

I am particularly moved by the bravery shown by our frontline medical workers. I think the death of the nurse has really touched the community. His death has once again reminded us of the many sacrifices medical workers have to make every day in order to keep Hong Kong going.

Last Saturday I had a passenger, a young nurse who worked at Princess Margaret Hospital. She was in tears when she told me that she had to be separated from her family because of her job. At that time, she was on her way to work. After she told me where to drive, she said she was surprised that my reaction was not to immediately open all the windows, or worse, to refuse to drive her. She said she was used to the mixed reactions from people when they found out she was a nurse. She said she had not seen her mother for weeks and on that morning she was taking a short break to visit her. She couldn't even go inside the flat and only talked to her through the iron gate for a few minutes. She broke down at this point and said she really missed spending time at home with her family. At that moment, I could really feel her pain, as if my life was also falling apart all around me. I thought that without these brave people doing their jobs I could be in the same predicament and torn away from my family. I told her how much I admired the courage and sense of duty shown by all frontline medical workers. I encouraged her not to give up as the whole of Hong Kong was behind her and fully recognised her accomplishment. I think many people might have taken it for granted, not knowing fully how these frontline workers are battling this deadly virus.

Every day we should take a moment to think of ways to help Hong Kong get back on its feet. And when the government has done something good we should give them a pat on the back. Public comments do not always have to be critical and negative. I think the administration responded very quickly in resolving the disaster in which Hong Kong tourists were stranded overseas by chartering a plane to pull them out of Taiwan. That was a fantastic show of decisiveness. Let's just hope that it wasn't just a one-off fluke.

They might have learned a lot from this Sars disaster and are acquiring a new sense of duty and accountability. If that's the case, Hong Kong is definitely now on the road to recovery.

As told to Luisa Tam.