A friend of mine was explaining to me that Hong Kong could never have a Steven Spielberg or a Jim Henson or pretty much anything to do with being inspired enough to create and allow one’s imagination to take flight.
He mentioned how the education system in Hong Kong- rigid and with little room to manoeuvre- kept creative thinking at bay and which had to do with the huge difference in me attending an English secondary school in Hong Kong, and him going to a Chinese secondary school.
The bottom line was that, according to how he was brought up, it was always about academic achievements and with very little being about embracing the arts and inspiring new thinking.
Though I mentioned the work of Hong Kong film makers like Tsui Hark and Stephen Chao, my friend saw them as good copyists, but lacking in true originality.
Let me tell you something about myself: I was born in Colombo, Ceylon to Helen and Herbert Ebert.
Born on my mother’s birthday, we ended up arriving in Hong Kong by ship with my penniless parents after being told that we were leaving for Melbourne because no one from Ceylon really ever wanted to live in Hong Kong.
Why did we leave Ceylon? We were Burghers and no longer welcome in what was a British colony and now run by the Sinhalese who were the local inhabitants.
Us, Burghers were a mosh pit and mishmash of the Dutch, the Portuguese and bits and pieces of here and there and intermarriages.
When nine years old way back then, you hear much, you take in very little, because you’re in some kinda self help and survival mode.
Thinking about what what might happen in the next few days instead of making grand plans for a future that seemed extremely far away was full of great expectations.
I guess that this is when one’s imagination comes into play and you dive into it and disappear into wherever it takes you.
Sometimes, you never really return.
You’ve found your safe place. And it’s from here that you write and create without knowing where anything might lead and giving yourself up to imagination and intuitively knowing who and what matters and when the words magically come together…
For example, once upon a horse shoe in a place called Happy Valley lived Lucky and Plucky.
These two very special horses never neighed.
They were always so happy that instead of neighing, they were kicking up their legs, shaking their heads and singing, “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”.
They didn’t understand why their friends would constantly neigh about everything instead of being happy and just going with the flow.
Maybe this was because Lucky and Plucky were very different. They literally had wings on their hoofs and which gave them the opportunity to dream, fly, discover new worlds and new everything else and broaden their horizons.
Those stick-in-the-muds, especially, known as Moodies, resented their freedom.
They enjoyed being miserable and wanted everyone to be like them: miserable.
After all, as the saying goes, misery loves company.
As for Lucky and Plucky, they weren’t just different, they were busy making music by themselves while playing with the clouds and the stars and meeting that lucky old Sun.
They were also always looking at what they could do to bring happiness and inspiration and more and more music to everyone and bring the world together and fill it with positivity.
To cut straight to the chase, one day while playing their favourite game of galloping so fast that they took off into the wide blue yonder and wonder, and this time when they did, they heard the most beautiful music!
They realised they had broken the Sound Barrier!
Breaking The Sound Barrier was what nearly every horse wanted to do, but never could.
Lucky and Plucky had done it and knew that here was where Inspiration lived- and how this Inspiration was available to everyone.
All one needed was to believe.
To believe in what your heart is telling you, how it makes you feel and about making your voices heard in beautiful harmony- even if you can’t sing!
It’s something that was fabulously freeing, and finally being free to be yourself meant that anything and everything was possible!
One day they flew high
Where it was even higher than the sky
It’s here where they met Happiness
And her friends Joy and Roy
This is where they found Inspiration
This is where their songs took shape
This is when they knew that
They had arrived in a magical place
And there was fun to be had
In the work ahead
There was no place
for the Moodies
Dedicated to all those who bring Hope and Inspiration to the world.
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