Ten lessons learnt after 16 months in Hong Kong

1. In all sound education systems, all revamps are but a repackaging exercise, of educational aims and goals that never change. What changes is the configuration of the positions where we place these aims and goals - in the background, in the foreground, at centre stage or at the peripherals.

2. Education is never far from politics and economics. So just as they say 'it takes a village to raise a child', everyone in society has a right to be engaged in education issues. But that doesn't mean we don't need schools and teachers, for they shield children from premature exposure to darkness lurking in all corners of Life.

3. Everyone is born equal but different. Inequality is simply an exacerbation of pronounced differences.

4. Some say freedom is the will to be responsible. Others say freedom is a game of choice. I don't know what freedom is, but I know I've lost my freedom when I cannot conceive for myself what is righteous, and what is not.

5. All agendas, in their own right, deserve basic respect. But some agendas always prevail over others. Sometimes, this is due to Reason; more often, it is due to Power.

6. Strip me of my national identity, and life becomes much less interesting - at the very least, there'll be nothing much left to lament over coffee.

7. Capitalism and goodwill are not mutually exclusive entities. Cold appearances can belie warm hearts - for in societies like ours, community is an unity of universal solitude.

8. History is like volcanic lava. We usually just leave it boiling in the abyss, and build our houses upon it. When the volcano does erupt, it may quash existing institutions. But as the lava cools, our land will emerge more fertile than ever before.

9. Loneliness is the consciousness of Solitude. It deserves to be embraced and celebrated.

10. By nature of human's forgetfulness, there is no eternally good or evil person. What prevails is the eternity of goodness and evilness.