COMMENT | When in doubt, I don’t procrastinate. Or pretend everything is fine. Or go off on a working holiday, leaving the garden rank with grass, the air-conditioning blowing hot, repairs and leakages unattended to, the fridge not emptied out, and the bills unpaid.

Or leave the hardworking Asean maid in limbo, fretting whether I will come back in time to renew her contract or extend it by a month or two.

Instead, I check out the meaning of the word that’s sending...