分享

Like myself, many of you may read To Kit (陶傑) regularly and would know just too well a concept that our famous columnist is wholeheartedly against: to be inclusive (包容).

And, I now come to realize an equally annoying term that has been increasingly abused in recent years: to share (分享).

You see? When we tell a story to the someone else, we say Let's share the story. When a movie star knows a good way of making apple pie, he shares the recipe with the others. And, worst of all, we are not sharing the story or recipe or whatever to a few whom we feel intimate, but, rather, to a large crowd of unknown people. As the giving side, I always feel sore to share anything with another person. No, I have no problem to tell him a story, give him a piece of advice, show him how to make a pie, or, if he is badly in need, give him a fiver. But these are not sharing. The story, the advice, or that five-pound note, leaves my world and lands on his. The two of us have no link. No connection. No continual relationship. In short, I remain free.

But, to share calls for a different virtue. If I have two pillows and you have none, I can give you one - but please sleep somewhere else. However, if I have only one pillow and need to share with you, it means we have to sleep together. The implication is much more profound than that tiny cushion that supports our neck during sleep.