David Mok

 

From the Memory of the Editor

It is evident from the above calendar that David Mok had a brilliant childhood. Even though his early education was delayed by the war, he finished his grade school a few years ahead of his peers. In his pre-teen ages, he read Chinese classical novels, such as "The Dream of the Red Mansion",....by himself. When he encountered words he couldn't recognized or understood the meaning, he used his index finger to write the word on the palm of his grandmother, who was blind at that time. It was this persistent learning spirit and tireless coaching technique that enable David to skimp through volumes of books, including some Kung-Fu fictions.

When he was a teenager, there was no televisions. There were very few radio stations in operation. The largest station was Hong Kong Radio Station. Although it was free to the public, their programs were dull. The second popular station was called Rediffusion which was available only to the subscribers by cables. The device was simply a wooden box, the size of a CRT monitor, that houses a 10" speaker. Rediffusion had this weekly program similar to the now popular "Double Jeopardy" game. The hostess would ask a series of questions and the first player who gave correct answer to each question scored points. The player who had the highest total score would be the winner of the evening. . Participants were pre-qualified before they could get on to the show. David was a frequent competitor against adult players. Every time when he was on the show, we huddled around that wooden box and cheer for him. When his answers were correct, we jump up, raised our hands and screamed. Like clockwork, he always came home with top prizes such as cash, pair of shoes, or other useful items.

From after the war to the 60s, tuberculoses, which was as deadly as today's AIDS decease, was rampart in the densely populated poor areas. Like all idealistic young men, David wanted to save these poor peoples' lives by specializing in Chest deceases. The Chinese has a saying, "If one doesn't dare to enter the tiger's den, he would never be able to capture the tiger's kittens". Not only he entered the tiger's den, he stared directly at the tiger's eyes. When he started his private practice, he opened two offices in the poorest areas. One in Wong Dai Sin and one in Shak Gip May. He charged his patients modestly, but gave them the best care. He developed excellent relationships with his patients. Sometime, his patients brought him chickens or vegetables to offset the fees. Seeing he had only 24 hours a day and it was far from sufficient to control the serious decease, he joined St. John Ambulance Brigade to train more medical professionals. Forty years later, Hong Kong is now rid of tuberculoses. Unfortunately, modernized society brings in new challenges such as air and water pollutions. Tuberculoses is now substituted by Bronchitis. It doesn't look like David can retire anytime soon.