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A little boy in the midst of Occupy Central holds up a sign saying "love democracy" in Chinese. Photo: SCMP Pictures

“I am so angry I made a sign” reads a message on a piece of cardboard.

A gigantic plastic replica can of pepper spray firing at a sea of umbrellas fills a Causeway Bay street.

A simple tent billed as a “free place to rest your soul” welcomes visitors in Admiralty.

Amid the barricade battles, tear-gas spraying and occasional fights, the Occupy Central protests in Hong Kong have offered a little bit of humour, a reason to smile at human frailties.

Yes, the issue is serious and the stakes high, but what the young people leading this battle tend to realise and what their elders often forget is that taking yourself too seriously makes you your own worst enemy.
"I'm so angry I made a sign." Photo: SCMP Pictures
"I'm so angry I made a sign." Photo: SCMP Pictures

Fight the good fight, but don’t do it with a scowl on your face.

You would not have found much of that humour in the dozens of demonstrations I have attended over the decades. For a person who grew up and worked as a journalist for years in the Washington DC area, witnessing the masses gathering to express their grievances, large and small, is as common as watching a movie.

Whether anti-war demonstrations, gay or abortion rights marches or immigration reform movements, the protest picture from America’s capital tends to offer the same view: politicians and activists rally the crowds, banners and posters tout the virtues of the cause, slogans on not giving up the battle are bandied about, and most leave feeling that they were glad to have been part of the larger community fighting for change. Tens of thousands of dollars are usually spent busing in the supporters from afar. Little is home-grown when it comes to Washington’s mass movements.

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