The Maxwell Road accident which took the life of Mdm Salinah Mohamed on 14 Feb broke many Singaporeans’ hearts.
Reports of how her husband and three young children are coping with her death have touched many readers.
A husband and father of 3 found their story so moving that he decided to write a long note appreciating motherly love.
The man highlights the most poignant point of a report on Mdm Salinah’s passing — her children’s reaction.
The way they “miss their mother most just before they go to sleep” and how her son “cries secretly” forced the man to ponder the power of motherly love.
He traces a child’s interaction with his or her mother from birth through different stages of life.
A mother’s soft whispers in her baby’s ears, first day of school jitters and letting go of a child who has found love are some of the tender moments he uses as examples.
In every situation, the man tries to show how a mother responds with great composure and wisdom.
He addresses the reader directly, asking at the end of every paragraph, “what is motherly love to a child?”
Relating to his experience with his wife and mother to their three children, the man emphasises the value of motherhood.
A mother cannot be replaced, and likewise her relationship with her children is one-of-a-kind, providing “a source of life for both mother and child”.
He likens the relationship to a harbour, where the mother waits as her child sails into uncharted waters and returns when in need of comfort.
To lose the safe port and not have a mother to come home to is a pain he couldn’t imagine.
And to lose that bond, to not be able to touch and hold her in the nights that you cry for her with all your heart, is a pain that I can’t imagine for a child.
This is why he sympathises with the late Mdm Salinah’s children, who must be experiencing such great pain after their loss.
He doesn’t forget the impact on husbands too.
Seeing your children lose the irreplaceable bond with their mother is surely heartbreaking.
Feeling that pain on top of the pain of losing your soulmate is just too much for someone to bear.
But the man encourages Mr Indra, the late Mdm Salinah’s husband, and her children to stay strong.
I wish them well and hope that while time will not heal completely, at least it will give them reason to go on living knowing full well that the one who loved them unconditionally would want nothing less for them but to live on, to live on with courage, to live on for her.
We hope that Mr Indra sees this and draws strength from a fellow father’s words.
May we all learn from this man’s heartfelt note and appreciate the motherly figures in our lives while they are still around.
Featured image from Facebook and Facebook.
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