Last night SB and I took a friend to a dinner that SB labeled "the we're treating you to dinner because you are Japanese" meal. We all try to meet up regularly anyway but this week we tried especially hard to make time because she is here alone and SB is an old friend with big ears and a small mouth.
We were relieved to find out that her immediate family was accounted for. She told us that not a lot of her friends had contacted her, possibly because they didn't know what to say. We told her that sometimes people deal with shock/tragedy in strange ways. People laugh at funerals and cry at weddings. My aunt spent the days after my uncle's passing talking about what to do with his shoes that had been custom made for him. It was only when she drove me to the airport that she told me that she missed him. SB's friend who was here visiting told us that his father did not phone him when the World Trade Center collapsed. When he finally checked in, his father simply stated that there was nothing he could have done anyway and his son was either dead or alive. Luckily his son had been on a low enough floor that most of his colleagues had been able to escape.
Our friend told us that one of her other friends had contacted her to see that she was okay and then immediately started talking about plans for the weekend. But that wasn't the worst of it. Our friend is a trader. She has had to deal with a hedge fund manager who went ballistic because of the millions of dollars that he was losing. Another Japanese colleague came into the office at 5am and later received a call from her mother informing her that he uncle had not survived. Her manager was peeved that she left the floor to take a personal call and stated that he did not believe her because she had been fine when she came into work. Wow, seriously?
I guess here in Hong Kong we still know our priorities.
We were relieved to find out that her immediate family was accounted for. She told us that not a lot of her friends had contacted her, possibly because they didn't know what to say. We told her that sometimes people deal with shock/tragedy in strange ways. People laugh at funerals and cry at weddings. My aunt spent the days after my uncle's passing talking about what to do with his shoes that had been custom made for him. It was only when she drove me to the airport that she told me that she missed him. SB's friend who was here visiting told us that his father did not phone him when the World Trade Center collapsed. When he finally checked in, his father simply stated that there was nothing he could have done anyway and his son was either dead or alive. Luckily his son had been on a low enough floor that most of his colleagues had been able to escape.
Our friend told us that one of her other friends had contacted her to see that she was okay and then immediately started talking about plans for the weekend. But that wasn't the worst of it. Our friend is a trader. She has had to deal with a hedge fund manager who went ballistic because of the millions of dollars that he was losing. Another Japanese colleague came into the office at 5am and later received a call from her mother informing her that he uncle had not survived. Her manager was peeved that she left the floor to take a personal call and stated that he did not believe her because she had been fine when she came into work. Wow, seriously?
I guess here in Hong Kong we still know our priorities.
Comments