小習作

It has been decided to send a group of people to a recently discovered island where they will live an isolated existence for the next 50 years in order to create a new society.

The following 20 people have volunteered, but the ship can only take 12 people. Which 12 would you choose?

Shop steward in a factory

Shop assistant, aged 19

Doctor from Mainland China

Grandmother with arthritis

Retired senior politician

Women's rights activist

Refugee

Senior Police officer who is HIV positive

Peace campaigner

Barman

Member of the clergy

Pregnant schoolteacher

Unemployed teenage traveler

Filipino domestic helper

Carpenter

Gay nurse

Physics professor

Finance expert who is in a wheelchair

Seasonal farm labourer

Jazz musician

20中挑選12個，驟眼看似容易，原來有點手背係肉，左手又係肉一樣難以取捨。一聽到在荒島上建新社會，立即 Lost 上身，想著以一個人在社區的功能出發去選拔12位佳麗。不過，基於練習主題是 Equal Opportunity & Diversity, 選擇時又多了一層要認真考慮的方向。

不過難度最高的，是要一組4人 (共3組) 在發佈名單前取得共識。每人的心水，很明顯地有著差異，我可謂入錯組，當中只有一個同事跟我的取捨較接近。我以為 Barman 和 Domestic helper 一定無得留低卻被兩名熟女同聲反對；我要患有關節炎的 granny 同行又被她倆嫌棄，只有一位文靜的男同事撐我。

習作當然沒有所謂標準答案，不過人力資源部的總監提醒我們不要 stereotype 一個人。雖則如此，他也重申長者在社會的地位。他說除了後輩能學習他們的人生智慧之外，一個社會是應該要懂得怎樣去面對死亡。其實他說的很有道理，卻無意令我差點兒上不完那工作坊。

那天應是我慶祝結婚週年的日子，傷心的時光比高興的多。一個兒又能慶祝什麼。