It’s Easter again

It’s Easter again. For most of us, it means four days holidays, and if your schedule permits, you can take the three days off next week so that you would have close to a ten-day holiday, which is what I almost did.

Around the middle of the week, Rosita decided to visit her father in Los Angeles, who will be 84 this week. She has always wanted to visit him and stay with him for a while, but her conditions present logistical problems such that she cannot be away from the hospital in Hong Kong for more than 10 days. I volunteered to go with her. We managed to book two seats and were all ready to go when I looked at my schedule more carefully. First, I have scheduled a birthday party for my father next Saturday. He will be 90. Secondly, I need to be in the West Coast immediately afterwards for a conference. I would be totally useless afterwards if I did two long hauls within two days. In the end, we decided that Rosita would go to LA alone. She called me early yesterday to say that she had a pleasant trip and was being pampered by her siblings 24 hours, well, almost. This morning, her sister emailed a few pictures taken with her to show that she was well, thanks to technology.

Last year this time, Rosita had just begun another course of chemotherapy and the doctors had described her conditions as unstable. She has been reasonably well these days, going out to lunches and dinners with her friends rather regularly, and everyone who saw her had said she looked well. She certainly does, which is why we have decided that she took the journey by herself this time.

It is ironic that we are celebrating Easter, a season of hope and joy for Christians, amidst conflicts in the world and discord locally. The various places referred to in the scripture readings at Easter, which our Lord reportedly spent most of His public life were none other than today’s Israel and Palestine where unnecessary and mindless human sufferings and deaths abound these days. Locally, Easter Sunday marks the deadline for repatriation of the unsuccessful right of abode seekers. The discord and tension were not helped by the media and social activists.

Rotarians have professed to be promoters of world peace and international understanding; and have indeed had successes in the past. One hopes that they would continue in their quest, impossible though it may seem. I wish you a peaceful and happy Easter.