Snow
December 12th, 2009
the snowed-over roofs of the car looked sad and lonely as i watched them slowly become unrecognizable. from the eighth floor, all the pain and misery at street levels feel sufficiently far away. i can look out at the horizon of softly falling flakes — holding close a mug of hot chocolate, remembering that both the mug and the cocoa powder are gifts from cherished ones — and i can feel safe and warm in my woolen slippers, and i can think how romantic all this snow is, only because i am up here. but when i run down the sidewalks and arrive eye-level with all the real suffering, my prior ignorance becomes unavoidable and so pregnant with guilt. how quickly we scuttled to the subway station, because it was so cold outside after the warmth and brightness of the boisterous restaurant where we had that wonderfully warm and hearty galbi shim dinner. we probably didnt see anything as we ran past. we talked about our crisp coats and tailored jackets, where we bought them, how much, what a lovely cut. can people die from the cold, i naively wonder. i remember how enghan told me that in dartmouth, it is a safety precaution to have warm cloths in your car during the winter because of how cold it can get there. you can die if your car stalls. how easily we say, i’m about to die from these whipping winds and the frost in my fingers. in malaysia, we can’t die from the cold so i guess in some way we are lucky. but what about that man outside red mango in ktown? he lived in a house made out of three shaking panels of cardboard. what did i do? did i do more than run past? one day when i make a lot of money i’ll spend it all on portable heaters for the people to whom snow means a lot more than romance or christmas cards.
Entry Filed under: Musings, New York City
12 Comments Add your own
1. liz | December 12th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
love your post.
2. jocelyn | December 12th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
ahh, very much different from what I expected an entry titled ’snow’ would be! :) but this is a real issue, and I’m glad you’ve mentioned it.
Hmm, maybe someone can set up a warm-blanket/coat charity drive, i know so many people with more of those than they need. or maybe there’s already such a charity drive around, but more of such never hurts eh! :)
3. xiao | December 12th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
yeah there was a charity like this in boston!
4. Patricia | December 12th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
not to mention how dirty the snow can get when it’s melting… muddy snow. the bitter cold really bites into your bones and hang on and on and on…
5. Ping | December 12th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
that’s a touching thought. sometimes we are too engrossed in our own world, complaining talking about some things that are misc compared to the things that we walk passes by.
6. Zhi Wei | December 12th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
lim su ann. why do you write such beautiful entries.
7. michelle | December 13th, 2009 at 1:20 am
hot chocolate drive. :)
8. smartypants | December 13th, 2009 at 1:52 am
i like the bigger font-size of your blog so matured-friendly :)
9. Zeek | December 13th, 2009 at 10:50 am
this post is sad. to think of all the homeless people out there in the harsh cold winter. offer them some hot chocolate drink if you can. In europe, people die of heatstroke during summer too. so we in malaysia, are in a way, being blessed with not too extreme weather afterall.
10. jun | December 13th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
i envy you for having such fluent language tht can produce such a beautiful entry.
11. KY | December 13th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
portable heater is one thing, what about portable electric outlets? :P
12. caffy | December 15th, 2009 at 7:59 am
<3 s. How is your blog frivolous with entries like these? When you write about small things that mean so much?
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