Fight!

Disbelief and humiliated, those were among the first responses that came into everybody’s mind on hearing the news of bomb explosion at JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton Hotel, Jakarta, on Friday morning. Deep sympathy to the victims and their families, who were killed and wounded in the blast, were poured. The Jakartans and the Indonesian people in general were deeply wounded again with this act of violence.

Whoever these people and their enemies are, they are playing at wrong battle grounds. No matter what motives, messages they try to convey, and results they want to achieve are, their acts of violence will soon bring their own demise, instead of bringing them closer to their ideals.

If injustices are their enemies, they shouldn’t act with the same bad language. What have made them looked different then? Why would they inflict such grave damages to the country and the people who were just recovering from decades of wounds and may little to do with their problems? If the intention is to prevent Indonesia and the Indonesian people from advancing towards a better and stronger country, God’s willing, it will fail.

We have no answers yet to those questions, and may not get one very soon, but we will. In the mean time, the political elites shall hold their mouths. Instead of using the tragedy as ammunition to attack rivals, they have to unite. But if they don’t, people know where to stand. The election is over, and no benefits for any black campaigns. Those who put more fuel and a flame will eventually get themselves burnt.

Indonesians are strong enough to face such a challenge, and get even stronger with such irresponsible act. Fight is certainly not the only word that would bring the perpetrators down, but fight has many facets other than its physical and violent forms. Violence will not surrender with violence. War can’t be won with war. Ancient Chinese says, Water quenches Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal chops Wood, Wood parts Earth, Earth absorbs Water.

Indonesia is advancing in many aspects of life, and act of terror will not stopping us from pursuing better lives. Those who used to get benefits from our problems, instability and backwardness shall start changing their behaviors if they want to get benefits from the more stable and prosperous Indonesia.

On Acceptance

Acceptance of circumstances and realities that one faces in life certainly is a choice, and so is refusal or denial. Whether acceptance is better or worse than, or equally the same as refusal, depends on the person’s MiHeS (mind, heart, soul) set, then on plan of action and execution that follow. What more important is to consider things that matter to the subject and the stakeholder involved, and everything else should come second or third.

In most cases, acceptance brings peace in one’s MiHeS, as it will clear up all of the ego’s closest allies, namely worries, fears, angers, disappointments, personal or family’s prides, etc. With clear mind, assessment of current situation can be carried out more rationally, and options for the future can be laid out by opening all available chances and possibilities with less of reservations.

With clear heart, a more open and sincere communication can be sought. Hidden and unspoken concerns can be unearthed, and solutions may be offered. Fears and angers can be neutralized, and disappointments will be evaporated as pride will no longer be in highest command.

Clear soul enables person to see farther across the horizon of life and beyond. Realities, no matter how bitter and painful they are, maybe necessary and part of the mysterious journeys for the person to take to get closer to his or her calls in life. The true and ultimate reasons to be in existence.

Acceptance may not always be the best choice for all circumstances. Besides, life will certainly be flat and dull without flame of spirit to fight things that seemingly can’t be beaten or be avoided. Acceptance, however, may serve like oasis when MiHeS and the body that houses them are in dire need of clear water of heart, shady place that covering them from the scorching sun of mind, and area that protect them from the dessert storm of soul.

Shift Happens

This is my first post at The Aroengbinang Project, fulfilling my promise to the blog’s owner, as one of TAP’s contributors. I’ve been living abroad for several years, and since a few months back I’ve been busy attending a class to get a certification. Thanks that at last I completed my final term exams and hence I can find more time to write. This time I’d like to share with you of what my instructor shared with our class. It has nothing to do with the subject he was teaching, yet with awesome energy, it captured the attention of the whole class.

It was a video from Youtube. In fact they were just two videos, but they showed something that have been bothering me for a long time, without being able to express or articulate it myself. Whoever had creating the videos had really done a beautiful job. It gives me goose bump every time I watch them. Yes, I watched them again and again, and I could not resist from sharing them with you.

The first video titled Did You Know 4-IV

If you have children or plan to have them, think about how are their chances to be able to compete with other kids from different parts of the world. Are they ready to compete, in any field? Are we doing enough to prepare them for this? If we already have seen them have problem to compete in today’s world, what is going to happen to them in the future?

Translation: What would happen to them is what would happen to our beloved country. We have a lot of bright students, but are they going to be ready? What are our responsibilities as parents, as fellow students, as teachers, as businessmen/women, as leaders, and so forth?

How we use all this information to help us today and to help us and our kids coping with future needs and competitions? What kind of skills, knowledge and talents they need to have in 15 or 20 years from now? Do we know? Do our teachers know? Do our leaders know? Do they want or care to know?

With the stunning speed of development in technology, even country like USA was concern about their future generation’s ability to compete with China, India and European Countries.

China and India are moving toward leading position. They are ready to take over US position. India is the fastest growing free market and democracy. Their number of honors student is more than the total number of kids in America ’s!!! An honors student is a student recognized for achieving high grades or high marks in their course work.

What would happen in about 20 years from now, you imagine it yourself. We kind of see the trend right now. American’s jobs were shifted to Asia, virtually at no cost to the American Companies. It is so appealing to them that the trend is increasing upward with tremendous slope. Can we kind of predict where is Indonesia ’s future will be? Do we even know where our country position today is?

I remember as a young student in Bandung, I have friends in my class from Malaysia, sent by their government to study in Indonesia. Today, few decades have passed since then and I have seen Indonesian people sending their kids to study in Malaysia. Is this what we call progress? Do you see enough core industries developing in Indonesia? Does our country produce enough food for its own people? Do we have sufficient infrastructures to support progress? Do we have a system that works?

I personally believe the leading countries in this competition will have a tremendous impact on other capable countries which are lagging behind. Impact that can put Indonesia as a slave country without their people aware of it. Scary? What this means to you? Watch the videos again and ask yourself these questions. Are we ready to cope with today and future challenges? Are we ready to live our dreams?

Get new articles delivered to your inbox. Free!

Enter your email: