Walk down Peninsular Plaza months ago and you did notice a shoe store with their signboard covered by a ‘Closing Down Sale’ Banner. If you hadn’t been there before (over the past decade), you shouldn’t be surprise. After all, the store look just like any other store, except that it probably is closing down.
More than five years ago, when I was walking down that path, I thought the same. I never got to know the real name of the shop since the signboard is always covered by the banner. Then a year or two past and the shop remained, never closing down. For once, I thought the name of the shoe shop was ‘Closing Down Sale’ but I abandon that idea after figuring out that there’s a few letters protruding from the real signboard behind the banner.
A few more years past, and the shop remained standing, with the same old banner, selling different shoes, but nonetheless, still shoes and the shop looked exactly the same as the first time when I saw it – orange walls, filament bulb lighting. It is interesting to note that they seem to have more customers nowadays. Last month, I went there and told my Dad about the store. He replied that he noticed that store too; over the years, it seem that the ‘Closing Down Sale’ banner has become a permanent feature and they are using it as a business tactic to attract more people. I thought so, since I realised that the store never did close down.
I set foot on the path again today, everything was the same, the Old Chang Kee, the 7-eleven store. Then I realised something was missing from the picture – the familiar orange-colored store, the ‘Closing Down Sale’ banner is gone. The shop really closed down. It simply feels odd. We all never thought it did close down. After all, it’s been years.
We take too many things for granted, things that seem to exist permanently will not, but we tend to think otherwise. There are things you really hate, like school, some people, and I really did hate that particular store that put up the ‘Closing Down Sale’ banner for years. But the moment you realised it is gone, you find it odd. It is not as if the banner or the store played a part in my life before its absence, it is not as though I really think the schools needs some forgiving on my part, but when these things are gone, you know you can’t hate them anymore. Our stand, our assertion are all too distinct, too comfortable for us, so much so that when the opposition force cease to exist, we feel emptiness. We hate, for the sake of hating, too often, we lose our rationality in our hatred.
For a moment, we should cease to hate and think about the reasons behind all our hatred.