1 Corinthians 13: 1 & 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

16 April 2015

An Inspiring Party

I’m going to tell you one of my genuine experiences in March this year. Perhaps it wasn’t dramatic enough to cause a stir but I reckon it must be so inspirational that it’ll make you reflect on your life.

In March, I went to a party to celebrate the end of a voluntary art project which a group of teenagers including me had cooperated with three disabled artists. They were Christine, a lightly mentally handicapped ballerina, Sing Lee, a vison impaired pianist, and Jason, a hip-hop dancer with speech and hearing disorders. All of them joined the party and Sing even brought along his brother, Hin, who was visually impaired too. The party was held in a studio where the whole project was carried out.

I’m going to share two moments which were so impressive that I’d never forget. The first one was the ‘music time’. Eating some snacks, Sing and Hin were invited to play the piano and this livened the party up. They moved their fingers on the keyboard incredibly skillfully and pleasing melody entered my ears. What surprised me more was that they’re good at not only classical music but also a wide variety of styles from pop music to opera. Listening to somebody humming a song they’d never heard of, they could play it after trying a few pitches for a few seconds. Besides, the pronunciation of the lyrics sung by them was so crystal clear that I could not help dropping tears.

The second moment was the conversation between Sing and Jason. You may ask what was so special. But In my eyes, it was droll and inspirational. Don’t forget their physical constraints. Sing has speech and hearing disorders and Jason’s visually impaired.  Can you imagine how they could express themselves and make the other one understand what they mean? Well, when Sing was speaking, Jason read his lips. When Jason replied to Sing by touching and moving Sing’s body. They kept communicating in this way for a while effectively. It was amazing!

They’re really brilliant. I mean they showed their abilities of breaking through their physical limitations which they couldn’t change. I can’t image how great the efforts they’ve made on learning to play the piano since they have only ten percent of vision. It seems that the piano has become part of their bodies. What was appreciated was that they enjoyed music with cordial smiles. As I’m involved in art as well, I do really understand how our physical confinement restricts our accomplishments in art. I therefore truly admire Sing and Hin.

What’s more, I think we ordinary people can’t have any excuses for being lazy any more. As what I’ve mentioned, the two disabled boys communicated effectively. This has changed my perception of possibility because they made something impossible possible. So I can no long give any excuses like “I haven’t got the time”, “I can’t do it” or “It’s impossible”. Actually, when I “watched” the conversation between Jason and Sing, I noticed their limitations and their greatness at the same time. I felt my limitation because I’d thought they’re limited by their physical constraints. Most people may think the world of the disabled must be very small. Take Sing as an example. You may expect his life boring because he can’t see and this makes him miss a lot of wonderful scenes in his life. But I don’t think so. As he can’t see well, he can listen more and clearer. As he has to rely on sounds, his hearing is so sensitive that he can even notice a mistune of a tiny pitch. I believe his world of music must be larger than those of many ‘normal’ people.

What I want to say is that although the social life of the disabled may not be as versatile as those of ordinary people, their mind can be broader than ours. This is what we should learn from them.

28 January 2015

Enrolment List - AIDS Experience & BLIND Experience (7 Feb 2015)

The following students have been selected to join our school's off-campus English Activity (AIDS Experience & BLIND Experience) organised by HK Crossroads and Stewards MKMCF Ma Ko Pan Memorial College (7 Feb 2015):
                                                                
 
NameClass
1CHAN CHAK LAM1B
2CHENG HO YIN1B
3FAN TSZ CHING1D
4TAI MAN YEE2A
5MENOR EDRIK JAN VALDEZ2B
6CHAN ON KI2C
7CHIANG CHING LAAM2C
8LI HEI YUI JASMINE2C
9SIU WING KEI2C
10SZE WAI MAN2C
11TSANG LOK HIM2C
12SHUM YI MAN2D
13NG SIN YEE3C
14CHAN TSZ MAN5B

22 January 2015

A letter to editor (6D Shum Lok Hin)

Dear Sir,

I’ve heard that some schools will remove the PE lessons from the curriculum to make students concentrate more on academic subjects. I absolutely disagree with this policy. I understand that if there are no PE lessons, some students may concentrate more on academic subjects but we cannot expect all the students to concentrate more on academic subjects if PE lessons were removed. Besides, PE lessons are very important for students in their school life.

Nowadays, in Hong Kong, almost everyone in Hong Kong has a smartphone or tablet in hand, especially students. They only focus on high technology products and reject going out or doing exercise. Therefore, they need the PE lessons because PE teachers would force them to do exercise to make them stronger. This is good for their health.

From the findings in a survey, it was found that 35% of Americans are obese. One of the causes is they seldom do exercise or sports. Hong Kong’s situation is similar to that of America. Hong Kong is a fast-paced city. Moreover, Hong Kong people always eat fast food for saving time and do not time for exercise. Most of the fast food are sugary and oily. Students need to do more exercise to reduce their calories, and so PE lessons are the time to keep fit and it can help lessen the danger that obesity brings.

Furthermore, PE lessons are not just regular lessons. PE teachers can discover somebody who has potential in sports and suggest them to join the school team. Students can develop their potential. If they play well in sports, they may have some special offers from universities when they apply for a university place in form 6. These students may get in university more easily than others.

All in all, the above reasons support that PE lessons are good for students. I can’t think of any benefits after removing PE lessons.

Yours faithfully,

Chris Wong