Seniors who ran up HDB stairs have always been personal heroes, thanks to my first and most legendary landlady. She flew up an HDB staircase like Usain Bolt in search of a toilet. She was half as graceful, but twice as impressive.
On one occasion, immortalised in my first book, she noticed that my washing was getting a soaking from a neighbour’s dripping duvet, hanging from the bamboo poles above. Such unkind behaviour had to be addressed, either by a gangly 20-something ang moh or a 70-something Singaporean tour de force. It wasn’t really a contest, was it?
My landlady raced up the stairs, two at a time. In her samfu. And her slippers. She was armed with three languages: Tamil, Malay and swearing. She was unstoppable. In that HDB staircase, she glided over the concrete. In my eyes, she walked on water. She extracted a public apology from Dripping Duvet Guy, who was half her age. She almost got a wedding proposal from me.
For years afterwards, an HDB staircase evoked warm memories of a senior citizen standing up for her tenants, for what’s important in life and for my drenched underpants.
But recent events have distorted those comforting images. A lovely short film on Channel NewsAsia showed a couple of spry members of the silver generation, running for personal gold, if you will, by conquering HDB staircases in an activity known as tower running, i.e. reaching the top of man-made structures.
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Yim Pui Fun and Jimmy Lim, in their mid-60s and mid-70s respectively, dash up and down HDB blocks every week. They inspire enthusiasts of all ages. They’ve won awards for their tower running. To my knowledge, they are the first seniors to run up an HDB staircase without producing a remorseful neighbour hugging a soggy duvet.
They deserve National Day Awards for their devotion to fitness and for utilising a public space that’s traditionally been used by kissing couples and sofa dumpers.
Unfortunately, Madame Yim and Mr Lim are award-winning tower runners living in a world of gold-medal complainers. If complaining really was an Olympic sport, then Singapore would win the lot and then complain about the size of the medals.
HDB stairs just for emergencies?
Netizens took issue with the elders’ vertical dashes. The HDB staircase, according to keyboard warriors, was only for emergencies: like fires, lift breakdowns and loan sharks in search of a quiet place to spray “owe money, pay money” across the wall.
Unimpressed netizens also reminded the senior runners that the staircases were “not for your playground”, just in case Madame Yim and Mr Lim had contemplated adding a climbing frame, a sandpit and a ball pool.
All that stair climbing could also “create stamping and stomping”, apparently, confusing a couple of elderly runners with that singing elephant in The Jungle Book.
Considering our second national anthem is industrial drilling, it’s hard to see how a nimble, 70-something stair climber is going to drown out the construction on the latest MRT line. If Mr Lim really is making that much noise running in his socks, he shouldn’t be wasting his time with HDB staircases. He should be in the next Marvel movie playing the Hulk.
Others were concerned with a hypothetical emergency. What if that emergency struck at the very moment that Madame Yim was running up the staircase? What if Madame Yim inadvertently hindered the residents’ escape during that emergency?
Well, firstly, Madame Yim is remarkably fit and lean. She’s not a dumped sofa.
There have been stories of dumped sofas blocking HDB staircases, but not diminutive senior citizens. So, I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that Madame Yim might be blessed with greater mobility than a dumped sofa and could, theoretically, just turn around and go back.
And, secondly, just imagine being caught in such a hypothetical emergency. If only someone useful happened to be on site immediately, someone with experience in navigating confined spaces quickly and calmly. Honestly, if there’s a sudden evacuation from your apartment block, pray that Madame Yim is leading the charge. Knowing my luck, I’ll get the sofa.
HDB stairs benefitting Singapore
Honestly, seniors who spend their time running up HDB staircases must be championed, not chastised. The societal benefits should be obvious to all.
A Harvard study reported that sedentary people are 33 per cent more likely to have a heart attack than those who climb just eight flights of stairs a day.
Vertical running puts less strain on knees and ankles, develops muscles and protects the most vulnerable areas in ageing bodies. And that’s putting less strain on the rest of us.
Madame Yim, Mr Lim and anyone else currently running up a staircase near you is potentially reducing the burden of an overworked healthcare system. Consciously or subconsciously, every step is a sacrifice for our society. Showing a little tolerance and kindness in return is the very least we can do.
Two years ago, the Forward Singapore exercise was launched to update our social compact for a changing society and a rapidly ageing population.
A key, shared value is the importance of empowering seniors to age healthily in the community, through traditional stakeholders and care systems. But that care, that empathy, must begin at home: on our void decks, on our corridors and, yes, even in our staircases.
It’s both hypocritical and ironic to call for a more considerate society to reassure seniors that they are not a burden, only to criticise those seniors who are physically doing all they can not to be a burden on society.
The silver generation can only ignore the myopic criticism. Rise above the petty complaints and continue to make a positive difference for all of us.
One step at a time. Upstairs. Downstairs. It really doesn’t matter. In the spirit of my formidable landlady, just keep on running.
