“Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’”

—Acts 13:13-25

When the first emperor of ancient Rome died, he was a happy man. At least he said he was happy. It’s possible his wife poisoned him to death, but that’s another story. On his tombstone, the emperor proudly tells about all the great things he has done for Rome: he took revenge on the men who’d killed his father, he brought peace to Rome, he built dozens of fancy new temples, he made sure his people were well fed, and he left behind lots of money. This was his way of telling his people “Remember me!”, because he’d done such a great job. 

That’s the way the world works — we matter when we do stuff and achieve stuff. And we don’t matter when we fail to achieve stuff. Ancient emperors knew this. Modern Hong Kongers know this. Anyone here who’s had to write a cover letter or applied to a programme will know this. Applications make us brag about what we’ve done. “Pay attention to me!”, “Accept me for your programme!”, because I’ve done such a great job.

Continue reading “on our list of achievements” →