Assignment 6- Penelope Pierson- Friendships and Hong Kong

I constantly have something on my mind. Usually unimportant things, but sometimes, just sometimes, you will find an important thought. Currently, whats been in my mind that is serious is two things: Hong Kong protests and the give and take of friendship. Though these two are completely irrelevant to each other, I take both incredibly seriously and will not hesitate to get in a heated argument about each subject.

To start, Hong Kong has been under protest every weekend since the start of the summer. I'm worried. Not only for my family who lives there but also for the protesters who are being beat and injured, hoping for independence. If I'm an American, the base root of the U.S. started from revolution and the need for independence, so I should wish the same thing for Hong Kong. China has already overstepped the boundaries that were laid out when Britain handed Hong Kong over to the Chinese in the late 1990's yet now, the police brutality that is being used on the citizens is revolting. To make it even worse, some high powers who may agree with the Hong Kongers may not be able to say anything or their business will fall due to the economic relations with China. I hate seeing how hard Hong Kongers are working for there to not be much change except for more injuries and deaths and corruption.

Secondly, friendship, a completely different topic, is also incredibly important to me. When I was in elementary school, I was an introvert. Thankfully, as I've gotten older, I'm a lot bolder, but also with more friends, I have more responsibility to maintain the friendships. Personally, I feel I work incredibly hard to maintain these relations, but I'm not always sure If I'm getting to the same treatment back. I may constantly think of my friends, give them surprise gifts, support them in whatever they do, but sometimes I never get the same treatment back. Even something as simple as a birthday text that I was eagerly awaiting because I stayed up late to make sure I was my friends very first birthday text, or hoping for someone to surprise me as I did for them. I think this is why I have the amount of friends that I do. I would by no means consider myself popular, but I do think I have a heathy amount of friendships, but I feel used, as I don't think they are actively trying to maintain these relationships as much as I am, or don't put in the same amount of effort, and I'm the only holding glue to make this work.

Phew, that was a lot. Let's get off serious topics, it's not my style. :)