Lightness and Darkness

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When I was on the MTR riding to a family dinner Sunday night, I spotted this guy sitting across from me holding a PSP while listening to his IPod.  At first, it seemed common enough sight because I always see guys on the MTR with their head down focused on their game.  But then I noticed that his head was actually bobbing left and right, and I realized this guy wasn’t playing any games but he was dozing off.  Funny thing was, even while asleep, I can see his thumbs subconsiously tapping on the keys from time to time.  It’s hard to convey in words how funny it was to see that, and too bad I couldn’t capture it on video because it did bring a smile to my face.  But seeing that got me thinking how such small moments of lightness from our routine life can totally change a person’s mood.

Well some people do try to intentionally spread these moments of lightness to routine life intertionally.  A group call “Improv Everywhere” causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd in NYC, Improv Everywhere has executed over 80 missions involving thousands of undercover agents.  Here’s an example of what they do, just take a look at the smile on these stranger’s faces.  

May be we need more of these in HK because it seems almost everyone here is jaded or have a big chip on their shoulder.  We need to find a way to plan these Comedy Bombs to go off all around the city and infest people with laughter and good mood?  Imagine that, having a mission to just make random strangers on the street to laugh and causing good mood everywhere.  How great would that be?  Creating little moments of bliss for unexpected people.

I believe doing stuff like this can make a big difference in society as long as people are open and willing to participate.  Just like the voting process, it takes everyone’s involvement to make it count.  Even if the gesture or contribution seems small, as long as people unite and all join up, the impact can be huge.  For this Saturday’s Earth hour @ 8:30pm, Hong Kong will participate for the first time to turn off the lights for one hour to recognize human’s effect on the Global climate.  If we all take part and live a lifestyle that is green and resposible, we’ll all make a big impace.  If you don’t believe me, listen to what these guys have to say:

Produced by

CB Fresh