Good and Evil

I had to whisper the mantra "you are not worthy of my time and anger" as I was getting out of the taxi tonight.

The taxi driver was so rude first he refused to come up the ramp of our driving lot that gets us directly to the lobby, and after pleading with my 8 month pregnant belly that it is a little difficult for me to walk up the stairs after coming from the hospital where he waited in line and have picked us up (while I thought that should have been so obvious to him), he reluctantly drove up complaining the entire time.  Then he left the meter running while I was getting money out to pay him, and after I paid him the exact amount, the meter jumped and he demanded the extra HK$2.  Out of principle and his attitude I refused to pay him the extra HK$2 that he did not deserve and slammed the door shut.

I am sure he was cursing something pretty bad, but then thankfully my Cantonese is not that good so I actually didn't understand a word he was shouting out and just tuned everything out and went up the lift to go home.

Hong Kong can be so annoying with these ridiculously rude people sometimes.

There is evil, but then there is also good.

The numerous times someone gave up a seat for me on the bus, in the taxi line, and on the MTR.  One bus driver even picked me up a little before the station and dropped me off not at the station but closer to where I needed to get off just to save me some walking.  Luckily, people that can empathize and have a heart, still exist, in a city where patience is generally non existent and not rewarded.

I should also not forget that I have been a receiver of so many acts of kindness, from people I don't know, from people I know, and from people I barely know.

A good friend from business school introduced me via email to a friend of hers who had the same condition as me (vasa previa) and successfully delivered her baby in Washington DC earlier this year despite much more severe complication symptoms with bleeding and hospitalization from 22 weeks onwards until the baby was born.  I joked that my friend ought to be buying the lottery ticket  -- what are the odds of her knowing two people with this condition in one year!  One of the HK doctors we saw only had two cases in his entire career.  I felt so warmed by her friend's kindness to offer her time to speak to me in length in such detail about her experience, things to look out for, and words of encouragement.

I know we don't have much control in the world we live in, but I will endeavor to do my part, to teach little K to be one of those people that will bring warmth to someone else's heart one day, and make the world a place with one more soul of good than evil.