What was the last live performance you saw?
That must be the one performed by the first major superstars of Cantopop, about 20 years ago. He is a musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. His songs are classic infusions of Western-style music and vernacular Cantonese, with biting lyrics that addressed contemporary problems and concerns from the 1970s to the 1990s. People of different generations, including me, resonate with his songs.
The last live performance I saw of him was also the first. He was in his late 50s. I went to the show as a gesture of support. Yet I was sad to see that he couldn’t hold fast to his unique style, instead imitating that of young singers of the time in order to please the audience. But he didn’t please me. I would much rather have seen him perform with his original flair, and write and sing the songs that resonate with the people who grow into mature years together with him. I left halfway, sighing.
This superstar’s lived experience led me to echo the famous saying “All the world’s a stage” from Shakespeare’s As You Like It. It is so true that life itself is a live performance. While I am watching others play, I am also one of the actors on the stage. You can be your own scriptwriter, or play a script written by someone else—a tough decision. Wisely matching your destiny with the opportunities that come along is the best script. But who can make you wise?
As a Christian, I choose the play in Christ, and I long to end the play with applause from Him.
……
1 Corinthians 4:9
“For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings.”
✨✨💖 ~
en yan hua fang 