“Merdeka! Reflections on the Padang. Time-stamp: 0541 hr, 27th March 2015 “Merdeka!” the rap guttural urgent cry of post-independent Mr Lee Kuan Yuan, resonating in my subconscious mind, was interrupted by the young man in army fatigues. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” the bespectacled young man in crew-cut shouted “move in and make yourself comfortable! There is…
“A society grows great when old men plant trees, whose shade they know they shall never sit in” From an ancient Greek Proverb Mr Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015), First Prime Minister of Singapore. He had never failed to plant a tree every year from 1963-2014 (picture from the Straits Times Archives)
The great Catholic broadcaster and preacher, Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979) said this about retirement: “When I resigned, I did not “retire”. I retreaded. I took on another kind of work. I believe that we spend our last days very much the way that we lived. If we have lived with ease, taking our rest, never…