Once upon a time, a mother and father decided to bring their daughter and son to the forest to hike and explore.
They went off trail in the Bukit Timah forest. They hiked excitedly up a steep side of a ridge, trudging through thick brown layers of dried leaves, peppered with many broken twigs and branches.
After getting onto the ridge line, they overlooked the thick forest with majesty. The father urged his family to head on down the other side of the ridge into the thick forested valley.
Seeing a few mildly open paths on the forest slope, they carefully weaved through the thick greens to the bottom of the slope.
Just covering this short distance took them a full 2 hours and the mother asked if they should head back out of the forest considering the time they had already taken. They all agreed.
Once more, both parents led the way to try to exit the valley. The father was initially very confident because of his previous military service, and took the lead.
But after going back and forth, they ended up going in a circle around the valley and the father’s confidence started to waver. Every seemingly open path led to a thick wall of vines, thorns and shrubs.
The father started to panic. The mother, who was relying heavily on the father’s confidence, also started worrying. The pathways started to seem impossible to navigate everywhere they turned.
Both parents froze at some point.
It was in this moment, that their son and daughter kept going with an open and explorative mind. They were still smiling and feeling joyful, not realising that their parents had frozen.
The parents decided to follow the lead of their children.
After a little bashing and trying, both children found a little tunnel-like space surrounded by shrubs. They went through and excitedly told their parents, “There is a way here!”. The father had seen the very same “tunnel” when they were initially lost, but had been too anxious to explore. This time, the parents followed their children through.
Upon exiting the “tunnel”, they saw a footpath. Both parents were extremely elated. It was as if they had found life again.
The parents looked at each other and smiled. They knew.
Written by: Darren Quek
Editted by: Natasha Saw
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