One day two friends meet to have a chat. Soon the two began to talk about what they have done recently.
"Did you attend any big events lately?"
"Well. I attended a march for democracy."
"Really? So did I. Why didn't you tell me you were there too? We could have marched together."
"Well. I heard your views don't align with the organizers, so I didn't ask you to come along."
"It doesn't matter. The organizers welcome any demands."
"Really? The organizers of the march I attended asked us to have a unified voice. They would remove anyone who have other demands."
"Maybe we just interpreted what the organizers said differently."
"Perhaps."
"You didn't tell me you were at the march. Did someone else asked you to go?"
"A colleague at work asked me, and he was so insistent that I couldn't say 'No'."
"We talked about the march at work too, but no one asked me to go. Besides I had wanted to march anyways."
"Did you bring anything during the march?"
"I made a couple placards and a prop. I also got a few newsletters, a fan, and a towel."
"That's all you got? I got a free T-shirt."
"I saw a few parties and groups selling T-shirts at the assembly point and along the route. I didn't know someone is given them away for free."
"Not just me, I saw many groups giving away T-shirts bearing their logos. The group I joined also gave me a free bus ride there. It was a tour bus no less."
"Wait a minute. I walked my way there and didn't see anyone coming on a tour bus. For that matter, I didn't see any tour bus at all."
"I guess you just missed them."
"May be so."
"We were also treated with a meal beforehand."
"A meal?"
"And a few hundred dollars too."
"You got paid?"
"The best of all, we didn't have to walk the whole journey. I am told we can leave right after we exit the park and the police had counted us. I did walk to whole journey though."
"Was the road crowded with people?"
"Quite the opposite actually. The road got more spacious the further I got."
"No one joined the march along the way?"
"A few, but not a lot."
"Really? When I marched, a lot of people tried to join the march. We were like sardines and the police refused to open up more lanes of the route. It was such a crawl that it took me five hours to finish the march. "
"Five hours? It only took me two. It would have been faster if there weren't so much garbage on the road."
"Garbage? There was some, but not a lot."
"That's not all. There were banners, placards, and stickers lying everywhere. There were even a few Chinese flags and Hong Kong SAR flags lying on the road and in the park where we started too. I might have stepped on some of them."
"Isn't that an offence?"
"I guess so, but the police did nothing. I also saw marchers throwing eggs and hitting a police inspector, and the police let them go. The police were really accommodating."
"Hold on. Did we go to the same march?"
"You said you went to a march for democracy, right?"
"Yes. One is held every year."
"It was organized by an alliance fighting for peace and democracy, wasn't it?"
"I see. We went to different marches. No wonder we had completely different experiences. You went to a march organized by those who would accept any Chief Executive electoral system as long as it is endorsed by the Chinese government, no matter how unfair or stacked it would be."