Ryan
Solemn thoughts
This prompt was composed as my response to a joke, a very sad joke in Hong Kong. Our city is one of the big three financial hubs of the world alongside London and New York. In a popular local TV series1, traders gathered on the roof of Hong Kong Exchange Square in order to commit suicide because their daily trading resulted in catastrophic losses.
This scene from the TV show became a meme in local forums, and since then, people will say “see you in IFC” once a financial crisis occurs. I found the whole idea worth exploring because it was ridiculous. In a capitalist society, a person’s life is worth less than money made from paper and his boss’s reprimands. It was as ironic as it was miserable. In my draft, I used financial jargons such as “options” and “overvalue.” I think the narrative was pretty much straight forward, and the indirectness of describing the person’s fall from the roof was mediocre. But if I were to continue drafting, I would explore for ways to bring out the irony of committing suicide just because of a loss in the stock market. Money can be lost just as it could be won again in the market. I would also give more weight to the idea of “family” in the draft, and point out that “family” is also an important asset for businessmen. It has often been ignored because it does not reap rewards like those huge tech stocks FAANGs, but “family” is the ultimate defensive stock in one’s own portfolio. It is the cornerstone, and if the main character, who is not named, had not given up, he may have regained his footing through the support of his family. It was a pity that he chose to end his life when many possibilities were present, and he was afraid to face the consequences of his mistakes.
And this sort of sad, social phenomena inspired my Creative Fiction, “Discounts” which talks about how people in Hong Kong likes buying books at a low price but yet not truly enjoying reading them. Honestly, I’ve already tired myself out trying to explain to parents, whose kids I tutor, that the best way to learn English is to read books that children actually like, instead of forcing books upon them. There’s a sense of hopelessness about the way that I view the world, yet in my own sarcasm you may just find a tiny ray of hope. By the way, my friend in the following fiction is based on my best friend named Ray. Pun not intended.
1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greed_of_Man
