2022 Young Writers’ Newsletter

Revealing a Secret
4D Wong Ki On

Aurelia and Thora have been best friends since their playful childhood times. They
attend the same secondary school. This year, to their delight, they are assigned to the
same class. However, as they have become more intimate with each other, Thora’s
recent erratic behavior has led Aurelia to be skeptical. Thora often falls asleep in class,
and sniffles frequently. She has even undergone a perceivable and sudden weight loss.
It almost seems like she is suffering from anorexia nervosa.

When Thora retched in the toilet, Aurelia couldn’t stand to sit back anymore. She
tightened her grip on Thora’s shoulder. ‘Hey, are you ok? You seem out of form
recently,’ Aurelia asked with perceivable concern. Thora clutched onto the washbasin,
her eyes staring hollowly. Abruptly, she turned to face Aurelia, seeming determined.
Thora smirked and uttered, ‘I’ll tell you something exciting. Promise me that you won’t
reveal it to anyone else?’ Aurelia didn’t think much, ‘Okay, go on.’ However, the secret
was not something she would expect. ‘Aurelia, I’ve been taking drugs.’ Thora
confessed with a shrug, as if she was proud of her abomination. Aurelia was stunned
‘I…N-No, this can’t happen! I-I should report to the teachers!’ She was ready to take
off when Thora grabbed her with strength. ‘No, you can’t! You promised!’ Aurelia’s
dearest friend now looked indescribably heinous. Aurelia now faces a dilemma of
reporting her wrongful friend or keeping her promise.

On one hand, there is no doubt that Aurelia should report Thora’s case to the school,
according to the regulations. She must obey the school rules. Otherwise, she might be
penalized along with Thora for being an accomplice. After all, it’s everyone’s
responsibility to report rule violations. Besides, Aurelia believes that under teachers’
surveillance, Thora can get rid of drugs as soon as possible. ‘There’s not a drug on
Earth that can make life meaningful.’ After Thora confessed, Aurelia had only one
thing on her mind—helping Thora to overcome her drug addiction. Compared to
keeping it a secret, it is certain that disclosing Thora would better convey to her the
menace of drugs, urging Thora to quit them. Also, once reported, Thora would
definitely receive more assistance from everyone.

On the other hand, Aurelia promised Thora to keep the secret. Although her mind tells
her to disclose Thora, her heart reminds her to remember what she herself said. There’s
no way she could take her words back. As the saying goes, ‘a promise made must be a
promise kept.’ Breaking her promise would be totally unfair to Thora. It may even
threaten their long-lasting friendship. On top of that, we should be compassionate
towards a drug-addicted friend. Aurelia considered that she should perhaps listen to
Thora when she is struggling. At this critical moment, Aurelia should give Thora a
shoulder to lean on and be her support, instead of criticizing her. In this way, Aurelia
could gain trust. Later, she could eventually learn the reason for Thora’s addiction,
potentially fostering Thora’s recovery.

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 2022 Young Writers’ Newsletter

Make Life Easier, Healthier and Happier

5C Chong Hei Chit

With the burgeoning development of food-delivery apps and services, more and more
people choose to order ready-made meals. With a few taps on your phone, you are able
to enjoy delicacies within 30 minutes. The trend of choosing to have ready-made meals
delivered to one’s homes instead of cooking for one has stirred up controversies.

There is a diverse spectrum of the opinions about having ready-made meals delivered
to homes instead of cooking for oneself. Divergent as people’s views on the issues may
be, I am in favor of this idea because the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

The overriding reason of choosing to have ready-made meals is due to Hong Kong
people’s health. Hong Kong is a hectic city. Most of the citizens work hard and return
home late. The people are so busy that some of them cannot even squeeze some time
to leave their seats and get a coffee. How would they have time to cook at home? Their
meals are not even guaranteed to have on time. The only solution for them is to order
the meals by phone. With the speedy delivery, their meals arrive and these people will
be able to enjoy their meals without leaving their seats. Except for those with
overwhelming workloads, it is still uneasy for Hong Kong people to cook by
themselves. There are personal and environmental factors. In terms of personal factors,
I believe not many people would like to go to the market, buy food and groceries, cook
at home, and finally spend several hours to clean the kitchen after long working hours.
As they have already been exhausted, longing to take a rest at home, half of them will
end up having cup noodles, and the other half will go to bed hungry. In terms of
environmental factors, it is common that Hong Kong has the most expensive rents. For
lots of Hong Kong people, especially the younger ones, it is difficult to afford a
moderate or big flat. Therefore, in order to reserve space, many of them chose to give
up the kitchen or only leave a very small space for it which is unable to cook in the
house. So, they may choose the above measures too. Both measures jeopardize their
stomachs and health and lead to a host of problems, such as absorbing not enough
nutrition and having abdominal pain due to an unhealthy lifestyle. This shows that only
ready-made meals can save these people from starving. After ordering the meals, Hong
Kong people can take a quick shower while waiting for food. This not only saves time,
but also protects Hong Kong people’s health.

The other reason is due to Hong Kong people’s mental health. As mentioned above,
Hong Kong people’s life is hectic, it is normal that Hong Kongers are stressed and
anxious. Telling them to cook at home by themselves in fact gives them more pressure.
Many families or couples may see this as a family activity that creates family harmony.
Constructive as the suggestion may sound, implementing the measure would invariably
lead to repercussions as they neglect the fact that everyone is stressed. It is incredibly
easy to start quarreling when one is dissatisfied with the other’s performance or

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 2022 Young Writers’ Newsletter

contributions. It is easy to put their relationships at risk when one is tired but still has
high standards towards the others. This may lead to a mood swing which exacerbates
the mental health quality. If cooking at home causes the problem of family issue, why
not ameliorate the situation by not cooking at all? The family can either choose ready-
made meals delivered to their homes or eat outside. Besides eating outside, ready-made
meal delivery is a better option. With more app choices and different delicacies, the
family does not need to reach a consensus, but can choose what they would like to have.
This not only ameliorates their relationship with fewer arguments, but the time they
are waiting for food delivered can have an alternate use, such as gaming before dinner
time which creates a harmonious family relationship. The relaxed relationship and no
backfires created by cooking for themselves will thus improve mental health or at least
not provide more pressure.

Critics claim that ready-made meals are unhealthy with unwanted oil and have
overwhelming amounts of seasoning. I bet there are some misunderstandings. The
stereotypes of ready-made meals for some people are that they are greasy, fatty and
unhealthy. However, as time passes, we can see this is not the case. With more
restaurants joining the food-delivery apps, there are more up-and-coming healthy
restaurants that are owned by healthy lifestyle advocates or provide options such as
‘less oil’, ‘less seasoning’ and even provide information of calories. This shows that
even though it is not homemade, people can still absorb nutrition and create a healthy
lifestyle. Therefore, ready-made meals do not bring such serious repercussion as
people expect.

To conclude, taking all aspects into account, it is my firm conviction that the trend of
choosing to have ready-made meals delivered instead of cooking themselves is good.

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