A badly written essay drawing inspiration from Magritte's Son of Man

I walk around Central in Hong Kong and I’ve never seen so many young men in finely tailored suits. Suits everywhere. French cuffed, fine wool material, tightly knotted ties…

But it’s the middle of summer and a scorching 90 degrees.

They’re so content and happy with the achievement of being able to work in the high-rises with other suits. It’s their opportunity to work in a big company, a global brand, netting a great $$$ salary.

A great $$$ salary gives you an illusion of freedom. You’re free to live in a fancier lifestyle now but if you were truly free, you wouldn’t have to be wearing that finely tailored wool suit in the middle a scorching summer. A trusted business advisor once told me that you wear a suit to a meeting as an expression of respect for your client. I used to happily wear my suit every week to every meeting. I’ve given it some thought and I realize now that the most important person in the room is the one who doesn’t have to wear the suit to the meeting.

If you had true freedom, you would be able to claim all of your hard work and sweat to build on your own reputation, and not towards the greater reputation of company directors that you rarely, if ever, will see.

It’s not your hand-drawn black-and-white portrait being shown in the Wall Street Journal when the company is mentioned.

If the company can afford to pay for such perks as company-provided housing, fine dining, a per diem, and business-class plane seats, then just how much more are they keeping for themselves.

Your salary is the cost of them renting your life. The perks are the below-the-line line-items that barely cost them to keep you happy.

I wish more people in Hong Kong could aspire to claim some ownership on their lives – have real equity in the work their doing so they can build a reputation; strive for the freedom to explore a world greater than what’s been given to them.

I wish more people in Hong Kong would stop being so proud of being able to wear their nice, finely-tailored suits…


A little bit off-topic, but I was reminded of it while typing the post… One of the most impactful, yet frustrating movies…