Dear Bottle,

“It’s 2019 all over again!” Tai Po fire volunteer Killer (a pseudonym) told Pulse HK (https://pulsehknews.com/taipofire_volunteer/ ), reflecting on the influx of Hong Kongers who flocked to Tai Po in the aftermath of the fire last November. They arrived bearing supplies and forming human chains to transport boxes of necessities, showing the world that the civic-mindedness so evident during the 2019 protests had remained alive and well.

Even though there seems to be little or no connection between you and that grassroots effort to aid fire victims, in my mind both are linked, because there are parallels between how Hong Kongers responded to the fire and how they responded to your call for M&Ms back when Wall-fare (石牆花) was still in operation. I am, of course, referring to the time when Mars Inc. suddenly reduced the weight of their standard size M&Ms from 40g to 37g, which threw you into panic mode because the Hong Kong Correctional Services would only accept 40g M&Ms, and you had only a few days’ supply of them left. Your only option was to turn to the public for help. Within days, all over Hong Kong, at online stores and brick and mortar supermarkets alike, shelves were cleared of their old M&Ms stock, as Hong Kongers from all age groups rushed to help you help Hong Kong’s political prisoners. Then came the steady procession of supporters paying their pilgrimage to Wall-fare’s office to deliver their stashes.

As you may recall, at the time, you gushed to Joe Tay (鄭敬基) in a YouTube interview “I’m in a different mood now, more chill. All I did today was sit at the door and be moved by the spectacle of Hong Kongers coming in, some of them moved to tears at the heaps of 40g M&M packets behind me.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpQ6rbtHL18; from 00:25:00 onwards )

I’m thinking of you on the first anniversary of your passing. After decades of observing the workings of communism, the Soviet dissident writer Vasily Grossman came to the conclusion that “Human history is not the battle of good struggling to overcome evil. It is a battle fought by a great evil, struggling to crush a small kernel of human kindness,” and it is this “senseless kindness” that evil is impotent against. Thanks for having been so senselessly kind over the course of your brief sojourn on earth. You made me realize Grossman’s words have only grown truer today.

Yours,

Michelle

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Michelle Ng

英國牛津大學畢業，前《蘋果日報》和《眾新聞》專欄作家，現在身在楓葉國，心繫中國大陸和香港。

聯絡方式： michelleng.coach@proton.me
個人網站： https://michellengwritings.com