Redundancy Redux

While tramping around Central, I walked past the very spot where the guy in the photo below wrote his calligraphy (read on), and had a flashback of the day I got laid off from The Bank That Shall Remain Unnamed.

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The night before I got laid off, I had worked until 4am, for an associate. When I came into the office, my staffer (let's call him Mr. Hong) Mr. Hong pulled me aside.

Normally jovial (he greets everyone with a loud, hearty and drawn out "... EYyyyyyyYYYYY......!!"), he was very subdued as he spoke to me hesitantly in his Hong Kong accent at the pantry.

Hong: "pEE-jAAYY......."

Me: "Yes?"

Hong: "................. I am So, So, SOOooo...... sOrrry...."

Me: -perplexed- "Huh?"

Hong:".......... THEy Asked Me tO gIve tHEm a nAMe..."

Me: -bulb lights up- "OH!"

Well, it was fairly obvious what happened next. He told me I would get a phonecall at my desk, that I would be asked to go upstairs to one of the conference rooms for a "meeting", where I would be given the sendoff by the then-MD, and then the talk by Human Resources.

That was pretty much what happened. I don't remember much else of that day.

I walked back to my apartment in a daze, walking towards the escalators that take you to Mid-Levels, when I stopped: instead of the usual beggars who lined the shopping arcade, there was this man writing Chinese calligraphy.

Nothing unusual, except THIS GUY HAS NO HANDS. In fact, he looked like he had a congenital defect, and had stumps where one normally has an elbow and a forearm.

He very kindly let me take a few pictures of him: here, he is writing my secondary school motto, which he explained to me was taken from the 易经 (Book of Changes). I had commissioned him to write this as a gift to my father.

We chatted, and he told me he was from Sichuan, that he was worried about his family (this was the day after the Sichuan earthquake), and that he had to leave Hong Kong the next day. I helped him ask a friend who had connections in the province, who told me his area was ok, and relayed the message.

I looked at the pieces he had written. Of the lot, there was one that seemed perfect for me, given my newly-found unemployment status: 有志者事竟成，苦心人天不复 (Where there is a will, there is a way. Heaven will not forsake those who persevere.)

Was it fate that placed him there? Perhaps it was a sign that all was not lost. In any case, the calligraphy piece is now hanging on the wall, facing my room door, as a reminder to myself that ultimately, I hold the keys to my own destiny.