Most people in Hong Kong like to keep pets at home. Some treat their pets as close friends. In some cases, their pets even become part of their lives.

However, some people buy expensive pets just for showing off and only treat them as “toys” or “ornaments”.

I started to keep pets when I was 9. I cannot say I am an expert, but I have some opinions and experience to share with other readers.

One thing I do not understand is why keeping pets is prohibited in all housing estates and most private residential areas, except in some high-class residential areas. Is this another form of discrimination? It is very unfair for those who want to keep pets.

In my opinion, decisions on whether to keep pets should be made by residents themselves, rather than the Housing Authority.

Besides, veterinary clinics are extremely limited in Hong Kong . Most pet owners have to wait for a long time before their pets can see the veterinarian. With such limited competition, most veterinary clinics charge high fees. I suggest that the Hong Kong government should impose some controls or restrictions over the charges that veterinary clinics can assess pet owners.

Pets, like human beings, have emotions and tempers. As a responsible pet owner, I agree we should look after our pets. In my experience, talking and showing concern to pets are very good ways of communication.

Lastly, I sincerely hope that all pet-owners and readers will love their pets as they love themselves. Pets are always our everlasting friends.

In the old days, all walks of life regarded youngsters as a treasure of society. Yet, now they hesitate to think in this way. Strangely enough, they even feel surprised if there is no news about juvenile delinquency in the newspapers. What has happened to our youngsters? What has made so many of them become never-do-wells?

Youth, in fact, is the golden period for self-development, in both physical and psychological aspects. Unfortunately, having an alienating relationship with their teachers, friends and parents, youngsters are found helpless in their path of growth.

Under the present education system, students are always required to sit quietly in the classroom without any communication with their teachers. As a result, they are not willing to seek assistance from their teachers even if they have problems. Consequently, they lack the motivation of learning and become totally dependent on their private tutors.

Additionally, surrounded by all sorts of temptations created by the modern world, students have no interest in participating in extra-curricular activities. Who will sit down quietly revising lessons while the famous cartoon Dragon Ball is showing? Who will go outside exploring knowledge while they have all sorts of television games to play with at home? Thus, they miss opportunities to widen their horizons and make new friends.

Family is another place for moral education. However, engaged in unlimited work, most working parents cannot devote sufficient time for their children. Therefore, without a proper care and education from parents, youngsters suffered psychologically and emotionally.

Mass media nowadays is one of the main influences to the youngsters. However, mass media practitioners become more and more profit-oriented and seems to forget their responsibility of education and socialization. They provide pure entertainment programmes. Thus, programmes often put an overemphasis on sex and violence, which implant nothing but incorrect attitudes to the minds of the youngsters.

For the sake of the future society, everyone should contribute their greatest effort to assist the youngsters in their path of growth, before they all become never-do-well.

As the number of tertiary students has increased rapidly in recent years, the shortage of hostels in University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong has become a serious problem. This is because the number of dormitories remains unchanged in spite of the ever expanding demand.

Some students are not offered places in the dormitories, even though their homes are far away from their schools. They have to commute between homes and universities every day. This is not only time-consuming, but also exhausting. Several freshmen in the Hong Kong University made complaints after their failure of hostel application. One of them lives in Lo Wu, and has to spend four hours travelling every day. Obviously, he will have less time and energy allocated to studies and extra-curricular activities.

As the seats in the tertiary institutes increase, the number of hostels should increase accordingly. In fact, more dormitories should be built so as to ease the problem.

Moreover, the criteria for hall admission in some universities seems quite strange. For instance, at the University of Hong Kong, some places are reserved for the students with excellent academic performance or outstanding sports performance. Without these virtues, despite the long distance between one’s home and the university, application is doomed to be a failure. I wonder whether this is a kind of discrimination.

After all, I hope that situation can be dealt with as soon as possible.