Last Friday

My Parent company chartered five buses and gave staff a day off to pay our last respects to the late Mr. Lee.There were about 250 of us.

Call me cynical; I wanted to witness for myself if the Singaporean crowd there was indeed cordial, orderly, helping out each other, no littering, as read online.

As our buses couldn't stop all at the same location, the staff were dispersed in several small groups. 

We just try our best to stick together while hurled into the tents after being in a walking queue. 

While at the tents, we were told that the wait inside the tent could take 4 hours, after which there would be a 3 kilometers walk. It was hot and humid but everyone stayed on. Among the people there from my company, there were the foreign intern, Malaysian Finance girls, China production workers, as well as Bangladesh, Thais. One colleague had huge boils on her arms due to heat rash. Still no one left although few of us might have wanted to leave because we were preamp that the queue would take 8 to 10 hours. Judging from the crowd, 8 hours looked real. 

After 2.5 hours, suddenly the army guys said we could move. And moved we did. We walked for another 2.5 hours until we reached Parliament House where the Lying in state was held. Along the way, there were volunteers handing out umbrellas, biscuits, buns, packets of facial tissue paper. Among the hundred of people who stood before and behind me, there was only ONE WHINER, she complained about being pushed about. She went on and on and on. I had to move away from her before I flare up. It didn't help that she is obese and had a domestic helper fussing over her. Anyway, that was only one person like that. So for the first time, I saw that Singaporeans are capable of being gracious on a massive scale and I wondered how long this spell would last.

Everyone was penning down- "Thank you for Everything". I thought "Everything" is too vague.  So I didn't pen my thoughts nor condolences. I mean, yes of course, thank you for financial success, commercial success, education standards, safety of country, greening of an otherwise charred brown Singapore, clean rivers, independent potable waters, for marina bays, for our roads, for our international reputation, for many things that became everything. We thank him for post WWII work because our forefathers chose to stay in Singapore while some chose to remain with our original country- Malaysia, and therefore moved back across the border. So those who stayed on, fought on, and we became Singapore. 

All the positive stories we have not heard before, came into light. 

And there was an outpour of tributes and heartfelt condolences. 

You probably won't be able to hold your tears if you read them or watched videos. That is only natural.