Selamatkanlah dirimu selagi masih kau terdaya
tak mungkin cair hatiku walau wajahmu bercahaya
seumur hidup aku hanya menanti
cinta yang panas, hati ke hati...
It's funny how time flies. Funny too, how within such a short space of time, things and people may change. I guess, change, to a certain extent, is inevitable -- and some would say, a necessity -- during a passage of time. Change would be a sign that one has moved on, grown or evolved from one's old self. To remain stagnant/stationary is not progressive and regrettably, not a very Singaporean trait -- The need to change and evolve in order to stay relevant to rapidly changing demands of our society is a pressure that helps to ensure that we progress, at best. But at its worse, such a pressure, if it is overwhelming enough, has serious repercussions upon one's physical and mental well-being.
I think I am one of those people who find great comfort in the things that seem to defy change. Like how my mother's sambal telur tastes the same way now as it did back when I was a tiny tot in kindergarten. How the same Chinese auntie I remember as a child is still serving behind the same cash register at the nearby NTUC. The shrubs that line the pathway that leads to my block are probably the same ones that I saw more than fifteen years ago when I first moved into this neighbourhood. Familiarity breeds comfort... as they say.
Perhaps, my attraction to all things ageless stems from my innate fear of change; not of change per se, but its implications and what it might entail. Like how our lives change sometimes imperceptibly but definitely irrevocably, when someone very dear to us passes on. Or the changes we have to get accustomed to when we graduate from the safety of our academic institutions and find ourselves thrust (often-times unwillingly) into the so-called real life -- that world of money-making, office back-stabbing and corporate greed.
I believe, however, that fear is a good thing; it keeps me on my toes.
