The Final Campaign

Originally written September 19, 2006

Reports of my retirement from the world of politics may soon prove to have been premature.

An opportunity presented itself this evening, one in which I have come far too great of a distance to let pass without taking the moment to test myself. In a previous confession entitled The Talented Mr. McLaughlin, we looked into the future at what Hong Kong would have in store. I asked the question that has been hunting me for years since this rebirth and dissolution, at what point does this all run out. At what point do I fail to live up to the expectations of being the best at what I do.

This is a moment where I test myself against a culture I do not understand, against a society that doesn’t necessarily like me interfering with their routines. As I remember every word. Why Kansas, they would ask. Why Hong Kong, they now ask.

They refer to me as the gweilo, the ghost man.

According to the Asia rankings, The Chinese University of Hong Kong is the sixth best school in the eastern hemisphere. I am the only westerner to be among the first class of the law school. In the beginning, there are no traditions, nor student government. There are no student representatives among the university’s governing bodies. There are only classes, and a void waiting to be filled.

The cigarette smoking man of the north shore once told me to seize that moment you realize there is vacuum in space instead of leadership showing the way. My father would assure me of the way of the gun, to never tip your hand to the cards you may play.

On Saturday, we are bringing together the law students to decide on the system of student government, the student organizations that can be formed, the traditions we will pass on, and most importantly to the ghost man… election procedures, courtesy of a constitution I just happened to have drafted in my days of politics.

I sabotage campaigns; I destroy reputations on a personal and vulnerable level. You question what I do, I’ve told you before. I am the best at what I do, and what I do ain’t pretty. And I’m about to become a King once again.