One of the most notable developments of the past decade, since Hong Kong's return to China, has been our growth as a community. What has taken place, in my view, is a subtle strengthening of our interrelationships as fellow citizens.

Through no fault of our own, and least of all of the motherland that welcomed us back with open arms, we have weathered a lot together in the past 10 years; what Shakespeare described as "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".

We suffered an economic depression whose after-effects lingered for years, followed by SARS, the return of Avian flu, the trauma of the Sichuan earthquake, the global financial crisis and the H1N1 epidemic.

But, like metal forged in the fire, we have emerged the stronger for it. And whether or not we are aware of the fact, we have gained something of immense value from being put to the test by these trials and tribulations.

We have acquired a greater sense of "togetherness" than we ever displayed before, a more marked desire to defend what we perceive as our "collective good".

It is to this greatly reinforced "togetherness" that I attribute the relatively recent but astonishingly meteoric rise of nostalgia that is now unmistakably present in our community.

Instead of being wholly preoccupied with the present and the future, we are beginning to spare the time to look back over our shoulders at the road we have travelled to get here.

This never happened before. Not so long ago we were all so busy looking to our today and our tomorrows that we never bothered with our yesterdays. Yet so pronounced is this relatively recent trend that we have even added the term "collective memory" to our lexicon of fashionable phraseology.

The chief executive, in his 2007 "Letter to Hong Kong", remarked on "what has amounted to a sea change in public opinion in recent months". The growing interest in what we call "collective memory", he said, has sparked something of an awakening in our community.

This awakening could not have come at a better time, for it urges Hong Kong to join in what is fast becoming a global momentum to preserve universal memories for the sake of our future generations.

How often have we regretted the passing of a beloved elder whose unique memories of our family origins would be far wider ranging than our own? How often have we wished that, in their lifetime, they had made a greater effort to ensure the continuity of their own valuable treasure trove of the past?

That loss should serve as a reminder that each of us has a responsibility to our own heirs. We too have a duty to pass on the torch of memory, so that future generations will have a clearer record of whence they came.

For make no mistake about it, collective memory is collective history. Each individual's personal store of recollections contributes to the whole fabric of human experience.

The recent launch of the oral-history collection program initiated by the Home Affairs Bureau is a long-awaited platform to realize and preserve such a legacy.

The author is former secretary for home affairs of the Hong Kong SAR government

(HK Edition 11/04/2009 page1)