LETTER | This is a short story about my group of friends from way back in 1994 when we were in Form 6 in La Salle PJ secondary school.

Much has crossed our paths, but we have somehow kept in constant contact over the years.

Some are married and have children, others remain single.

We are in a group chat called, no surprises here, La Salle Group.

They are, in no order of preference, Wing Yee, Siew Ping, Jacobus, Pris, Audrey, Chan, Razman, Tsung Ming, Alex, Pei Sin, Pravind, Serina, Mei-Hua, Pravind and our beloved class monitor Lionel.

I write this brief story because of what someone from the group told me the other day. He said that this deep friendship would outlive any virus that comes our way.

How true it is.

Despite all the shenanigans that go on in our group chat, it cannot be ignored that for us, especially those with children, there must be some form of concern on what lies ahead.

Yes, we all hope and pray for things to get back to normal, but are we sure now what this "normal" is going to be in two months or even six months.

What I can be certain of is this. The La Salle Group will still be here. It has been here for 25 years. It would in all likelihood be here for another 25 years and more, God willing.

The importance of these sort of groups is that we get to help each other cope and adapt to changes that come our way.

I am sure many of us have a "La Salle Group". This is the best time to have your school buddies around. Go look them up.

Support, as they say, is one of the fundamentals that get us going and keeps us going. Support from both family and friends. We may be in confinement, but we can always still support each other from far away in many ways.

And that is what we, the La Salle Group, try to do for each other. And to be honest, it really helps.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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