The Love Cheer

Showing posts with label flag day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flag day. Show all posts

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Loving on Flag Day


Every Saturday morning is flag day in HK. Flag Day, according to Wikipedia, is a day on which government approved, public fund-raising happens. Picture the street scattered with people, like land mines, holding sheets of stickers (or "flags"), carrying a bag to collect donations, standing about 6 to 7 feet apart from each other... all ready to charge at you to ask for a donation...every single Saturday morning... It's all for a good cause, but man, HK people can be aggressive! Thus the strategy is to get the flag early, stick it in a very obvious place, and point to it if you see a person approaching you with some flags for sale. It's a strategy that works, but I guess it's not very loving, huh?

Well, I started the day doing something even worse. I flat out refused to buy a flag from a lovely girl when I was rushing to work this morning, justifying myself by saying that I was running late, which I unfortunately was. Of course I felt horribly afterwards, and it was even worse, because I had seen her from afar and had felt prompted that I should help her (even before she asked me.) Thankfully, I didn't have to stay at the office long, and as I headed back out, I made it a point to try and look for her. HK people can't stand or sit still for long, so I thought that my chances of finding her again were slim, but she was still there - yay!

I had my flag, and continued on. Typically, people only buy one flag from one person (and do the point-to-flag motion if any other solicitors ask for more donations.) However, I felt a prompting urging me not to follow the norm, and this time, I made sure to respond to the prompting in a timely fashion. So, I scanned the scene, and approached a high school girl, telling her that I would like to buy another flag from her, even though I had already bought one previously. I even got to chat briefly with her, and found out that she was attending a high school just down the road. I told her to "add oil". (It was another blazing hot 33 degree Celsius day in HK, and those donation bags get really heavy with all the change!) She said, "THANKS!" :)

Love challenge: Don't follow the norm, double up on the Love!

"But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her"