I lament the closure of the community library set up at the void deck of an HDB block in Boon Lay (“Boon Lay void deck library to close due to complaints, messiness, lack of community effort: Founder”, Oct 18).

In his post in the Little Libraries Singapore Facebook group, founder Hengster Kor cited a lack of community effort to maintain the library as a reason for closing it.

It is sad to learn from examples like this that we have some way to go towards building the “kampung spirit” that our forebears championed in shaping modern Singapore.

It was this same sense of community spirit that saw them persevere through the nation’s challenging moments. We reap today’s successes as the fruit of their efforts, but in the course of doing so, have we forgotten what it means to be part of a community?

I take comfort in learning that good examples of this spirit still abound, such as the acts of kindness and community spirit seen in Block 115, Whampoa Road, which Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong applauded in a National Day Rally speech (Neighbours of all races are like family in Whampoa block, Aug 29, 2021).

Indeed, not all is gloom, but neither should we take things for granted as we, with all our modern-day digital trappings, begin to realise that the kampung spirit is not something that occurs arbitrarily or overnight. It needs to be nurtured tenderly for it to bloom.

The simplest way to cultivate a sense of community spirit is to show care and concern for our immediate neighbours and allow that goodwill to proliferate.

We can do better to protect what is started by our community for no other reason than its sole benefit.

Let the closure of the community library be an inflection point towards a greater sense of “kampung spirit”.

Andrew Ee Changshun