Awaken
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- May 13, 2020
- 3 min read
FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. SLEEPING ROOM - DAY
It's before 6.00 am. Peter wakes up.
PETER (V.O.): My biological clock has awaken me again. As my mind is fresh, see if there's anything that would inspire me to think deep.
Peter checks phone notifications.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Which threat is more dangerous, the pandemic or the recession?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Money or life...Life for work or work for live.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I was young and had all the time in the world, my answer would be simple and straight.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): As early as the 1960s, I tried to find ways to earn money. Then, I heard about the Hong Kong flu but didn't know what it meant to me.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Having checked the facts recently, I now realize it was no less serious than the current pandemic.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In the process of sharing my observations on pandemic issues, I've learned about the world's pandemic history and can discern what may follow.
Act 2
INT. STUDY - DAY
Reclining on a sofa, Peter is having screen time. We hear radio music in the background.
PETER (V.O.): Here's a related answer request. How would people agree to risk their lives to save the economy?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The answer again would depend on the value assumption and the context.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): How can life not be primal? What's the use of money to a dead person?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Supply and demand rise and fall. But there's no permanent recession. And humans in their lifetimes can survive many recessions.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Hypothetically, if it was destined and made known to those who supporting the economy first are the ones to die, I don't think they'd support it. But selfishness is just human.
Peter surfs the web.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Here're the statistics of closed cases of those who died in the CONVID-19 disease: Age 75+ (47%), 65+ (25%) and 45+ (23%).
Peter stares on the phone screen.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): So for those below 45, they can make the calculated move by assuming the health risk. But how about their risk to act as virus spreaders causing elderly deaths?
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Anyway, Hong Kong's context is different from US or UK. Hong Kong is quite a clean bubble...
We hear radio news.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh! Hong Kong's 23-day clean record has just been broken. There're two new confirmed home-grown CONVID-19 cases.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): By Hong Kong and Mainland China standard, the alarm bell has rung again.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Elsewhere, such reports are negligible.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In US, they can't wait to reopen. But such will compound the mistakes and will have perverse results.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I know that those in the first world can't bear the possibility of downgrading due to the shutdown of their economy.
Peter types on the phone.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That however reminds me about social justice. No one can choose to be born with a silver spoon or in the first world.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): There has never been any genuine global effort dealing with inequality of opportunities and unfair wealth distribution. Perhaps, CONVID-19 now acts as the arbiter.
Peter sighs.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS
Peter surfs the web.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): UK is now adopting a modified approach in social distancing ie work from home if one can, and go to work as one must; drive to work if one can to avoid using public transport etc.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Such is a sensible balance in the circumstances.
Peter checks another notification.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): This request is interesting. Whether the pandemic has changed my faith (spirituality) in any way?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Philosophy of Religion was my pet paper in my undergraduate days. I needed to satisfy my practical philosophical curiosity.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): On faith, I don't believe in something that I don't know. If god exists at all, I think it has many man-made names.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): During the pandemic, I have a sense of connection with a transcendental cause to understand life in nature.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've been awakened by Mother Nature that it has been using pandemics to fix the species of humankind.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): While the acts of humankind aren't conducive to the wellbeing of Earth, humans are everywhere. They've become Earth's pandemic.
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I now believe only natural laws and forces operate in the universe, and I'm a transient part in it.
INT. SLEEPING ROOM - NIGHT
Music in the background. Peter goes to bed.
FADE OUT.
THE END
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