Abstract
WHEN A TOWER VANISHES AND REAPPEARS IN EVER-CHANGING CLOUDS:
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON MOTHER NATURE, RESILIENCE, AND HOPE
Journal: i TECH MAG (Research Review)
Author: Chee Kong Yap
DOI: 10.26480/itechmag.07.2025.93.96
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
On 4 September 2025 a 7-minute sequence in Kuala Lumpur saw the Kuala Lumpur (KL) Tower slip behind fast moving cloud and reappear within minutes. This autoethnographic reflection uses the event to read mother nature’s volatility through resilience and hope. Drawing on research on mother nature exposure, cultural and community accounts of resilience, and higher education models of hope, this paper synthesize observation with scholarship. The insights of this reflection are: (1) perception is contingent; the tower never vanished, my view was occluded, suggesting that crises may be transient veils; (2) resilience is more than bouncing back; it is adaptive, relational, and culturally situated, cultivated by acceptance, community support, and situated practices; (3) hope is dynamic, coupling goals, agency, and pathways that can be recomposed under constraint. The implications are: educators can scaffold reflective encounters with nearby mother nature to support student well-being and perseverance; urban planners can pair mother nature based solutions with inclusive engagement to deepen social legitimacy and readiness for extremes; policymakers should design for redundancy and multiple response pathways. The vignette demonstrates how ordinary weather can serve as a laboratory for meaning making, connecting sky, city, and self. This note closes by arguing that noticing such moments is a teachable habit that strengthens both individual and urban resilience today, all due to the power of mother nature.
| Pages | 93-96 |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 7 |