Hong Kong is taking a stand. And yeah, it matters to me.

Okay, I'm just a little old lady who lives clear across the world from Hong Kong.

So no, I really don't have much right to say anything about their choices.

Nor did I have any right to have an opinion about Scotland's recent choice.

Nor do I have any right to care one way or another about the comments of a woman in Australia speaking out against misogyny.

But you know what?

I do care. 

I'm still reeling from having spent fifteen months caring very deeply about the choices made by people fifteen hundred years ago and writing books about them taking their stand. It's still fresh in my mind, so what's happening in our world Today (now that I'm back from the Dark Ages) is something I care about.

Yeah, it matters.

It matters to me.

Taking your stand - that matters.

Win, lose, or draw, it matters. 

The people of Hong Kong want to choose their own local leadership, not have to choose from among pre-selected candidates. 

I don't find that such an awfully difficult request to understand.

And they're making their request with such dignity and aplomb that they're raising the bar for such things all over the world. 

The reports are flooding in about how nice they're being about the whole thing, relatively speaking, and that's just flat out good to hear and to see. 

Here's one comment from a Facebook page, one of many and many:

"Thank you for your words. We actually don't know what the result is. We may lose, but we will stand as long as we can. Don't lose hope.

Democracy belongs to those who truly believe in and the people who believed in the goodness of people."

When I see the images all over the net of all those people, standing together, not backing down, I can't help rooting for them.

They're not asking for anything unreasonable, at least from my point of view. 

How successful they will be there is  no way to predict. Like the person's comment said: 'We may lose, but we will stand as long as we can.'

And my question is simple: What happens if they do lose - this time - ? 

The fact that they're doing this thing, and that so many of them are so young (not so very different from Scotland's recent attempt), seems to me to be an indicator of things to come down the road a piece as these young people have only just begun their adult lives.

Will they give up and give in?

Or will they grow in strength as they mature, and continue to protest injustice?

Only time will tell.

I'm skipping the History Lesson I was going to include. 

It just so happens that my favorite Sidhelagh outfit is mainly yellow.

Guess what this woman will be wearing on this day?


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