The Winter of Singapore 2018, six days old, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Jan 16, 2018. Despite her chilly exterior, she was a tender soul, loved by all who knew her (save for a haughty few who turned their backs on her wide-reaching embrace). The day she arrived on this side of the Equator, the nation froze—in disbelief, at the blessing of her presence.
To say that she touched many lives would be an understatement; she also touched the sun-scorched skin of those who walked among her. She brought strangers together in droves, to pound the pavements of otherwise undesirable running tracks. Paradoxically she created warmth, as families and friends gathered around dinner tables for steamboats and hotpots. She created opportunities for the fashionably inclined, and gave those who had recklessly spent their livelihood on jackets and one-time-use winter clothing, a reason to carry on. It was, indeed, as if Christmas had come.
She was for all of us a shining beacon of hope; a reminder that nothing is ever impossible. She was a giver, and she was taken from us far too soon. She will be missed.
