A Christmas wish for goodwill and caring

So this is Christmas and what have you done? Not a lot, I expect. Celebrations are more subdued than usual this year as the world continues its struggle to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.

We might wonder when Hong Kong will next enjoy a normal Christmas. Last year festivities were scaled back after months of civil unrest. The city’s famous shopping malls became venues for demonstrations and protest songs were heard as frequently as carols. The New Year’s Eve fireworks were cancelled.

This year Covid-19 risks and social-distancing rules have dampened the usual party spirit and made foreign travel impractical, if not impossible.

Many will, as a result, be spending Christmas in Hong Kong for the first time. We will be making the most of it. Amid all the gloom, the chance to exchange presents, pull a cracker, and indulge in some festive fare is welcome. It is a pity the New Year’s fireworks had to be cancelled again.

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However we intend to spend the holiday, this is an ideal time to reflect on the Christmas message of peace and goodwill to all. It is universal. Christmas, although a Christian festival, is enjoyed by people of other faiths – or no faith at all – in different ways around the world.

This is a time for giving and forgiving, for caring and kindness. Hong Kong has seen far too much confrontation and division over the last two years.

It might only be a Christmas wish, but the city would benefit enormously from a little more goodwill between the government and its opponents, the yellow camp and the blue, and between Beijing and the US. At least, we might hope for a Christmas truce.

There are some positive signs with the departure of toxic-tweeting US President Donald Trump, perhaps there will be a less fractious world. But the pandemic continues to take a terrible toll on lives and livelihoods.

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Our thoughts, this Christmas, are with patients in hospital suffering from Covid-19 and the loved ones of the more than 1.7 million whose lives it has claimed. It is a time to remember the sacrifices made, especially by frontline health workers who have given so much.

This year, more than most, we all desperately need to have a happy Christmas and to look forward to a better year in 2021. To quote again from John Lennon’s anti-war protest song, “let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear.”