Life goes on. Regardless

In "Haiku for Lee Kuan Yew", was this:

What advice do you have for Singaporeans now that you are gone? Remember, your advice must be in the form of Haiku 

"Keep Calm. Carry On.
Walk Softly. Carry Big Stick.
Winter is Coming."

Be unflappable. Don't panic. Life goes on, regardless.
Don't need to make a lot of noise, but be prepared to make an impact. Speak softly but back up your words with deeds or the willingness to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.
And winter is coming. Be prepared for hard times, cold times.


"Keep Calm (and) Carry On" is so very British. Stiff Upper Lip and all that stoicism in the face of adversity.

LKY had that in spades. He was unflappable. He never panics, reports his daughter:

Yes, my father was a workaholic, and as a 73-year-old holding the post of senior minister in 1996, he did not see his impending surgery as reason enough to stop working.
But the episode also showed me how my father stoically approached the challenges before him without a hint of emotion or anxiety. He was unflappable.
He found it was never helpful to panic, because doing so would never positively affect the outcome of any situation.

In his own words,

What to do? What else can I do? I can't break down. Life has got to go on.

Keep Calm, don't panic. Be unflappable. And Carry On. Life has to go on. Regardless.


Walk softly, but carry a Big Stick

Don't need to make a lot of noise, but be prepared to make an impact. Speak softly, politely but back up your words with deeds or the willingness to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.

“You lose nothing by being polite. The answer is ‘No’, but please say it politely and give the reasons… Explain to me why ‘No’. Don’t change ‘No’ to ‘Yes’. Don’t be a fool. If there was a good reason why it is ‘No’, it must remain ‘No’, but the man must be told politely.”

to Civil Servants at the Victoria Theatre, 30 Sep 1965, 

Lee Kuan Yew in his own words, 1959-1970

"Anybody who decides to take me on needs to put on knuckle-dusters. If you think you can hurt me more than I can hurt you, try. There is no way you can govern a Chinese society." 

"If you are a troublemaker... it's our job to politically destroy you... Everybody knows that in my bag I have a hatchet, and a very sharp one. You take me on, I take my hatchet, we meet in the cul-de-sac."

Also from Haiku for Harry:

"I have a hatchet
We'll meet in the cul-de-sac."
Valar Morghulis!

And finally a caution, a warning: Winter is Coming

For those of you not familiar with pop culture, that is a phrase from the TV series, "Game of Thrones" (Originally a series of books by G.R.R. Martin).

Winter is hard times, cold times. He has always warned that hard times may just be around the corner, just waiting for us to slacken, to waver, to weaken, and then it will come. He has said it many times:

... Mr Lee notes that some young citizens believe that modern Singapore is "a natural state of affairs", that can be put on "auto-pilot". But he said that is not the case.
He said: "They have come to believe that this is a natural state of affairs, and they can take liberties with it. They think you can put it on auto-pilot. I know that is never so."

Winter may be inevitable. Or it may not be as harsh. But what will make winter more bearable is preparation. So Winter is coming. What are you going to do about it?