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The fragile bonds of friendship
Friendships can sustain our mental health and enrich our lives. But they can also end quite easily.
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Friends are not just by our side – they can infiltrate and change us, said the writer.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
I met Michael when we both started Primary 1. I was at that time not yet familiar with the language of instruction which was English (my dialect-speaking parents didn’t see the need or couldn’t afford to send me to kindergarten) which led my teacher to believe that I was somehow mentally impaired, what today we would call a “special needs” child.
Michael didn’t have that problem. Light brown hair and eyes, and a toothy smile, he was the only child of a Chinese mother and an English father who owned a small shipyard in Kallang Basin. Despite that initial language barrier, we got on.
