A Day at The Park

I walked and I walked...

The morning sun shine through the trees
The cool morning breeze kiss my skin
The yogi do their yoga, twisting and stretching
The hawkers offer breakfast to the joggers
The little flipflop walked, one at a time
Left, right, left, right, left, right
And I thought of the day when yours were accompanying mine
The flipflop move forwards, alone
Left, right, left, right, left, right

The afternoon sun basked everything in golden yellow
The jogger, the juggler, the soccer players,
Lovers and families and friends and pets
Cacophony of traffic as people rush to go home
Laughter and excited yells of the soccer players
My hand open and clenched, yearning to hold yours
My fingers spread, wishing yours filling the void
The darkness come
The night fall
Still I walked and walked, the little flipflops move one at a time
Left, right, left, right, left, right

Tomorrow the sun will rise again
And then the night will fall
But you will not be there with me
Not yet
Many days will follow: many sun rises and night falls
The days where I still walk alone
But it wont be for eternity

One day the sun will rise and gleam upon your smiling face
One day the night will fall as you hold me close
And the two pair of flipflops, little and big, will walk together
Left left, right right, left left, right right
And we'll never be alone

One day...

Ubud - Sept 23, 2012

The Peranda sat in silence. He closed his eyes and lost in his thought, in his prayer. He was oblivious to his surrounding, to fellow speakers that sat with him on the long table, to the speaker next to him that enthusiastically explain Vedic system. He slowly put his shirt on to cover his frail body, looking even more serene when contrasted with the praying flowers arrayed in front of him, with the priest crown and his other praying tools next to the flowers. He broke a big smile when the translator missed translating a part of his fellow speaker's speech. Finally dressed and have finished with his own speech, he sat and close his eyes still, listening intently to his fellow speaker's speech, nodding and smiling in agreement. Such a peaceful smile! The small incense in front of him burned slowly. He previously spoke about the role of Peranda in Balinese Hindu, and now the speaker next to him in his speech about Yoga said that Peranda and all priests
brings God in them, brings God to fellow human. Is it true? Is there God? Can we really be saved? But seeing the Peranda sit there, with his peaceful bearing and calming look, one can't help to just have positive feeling, to just have faith. Maybe we can be saved after all.

Innocence of Muslim: mari tetap innocent/tak bersalah!

Karena di Indonesia sedang "in" trailer Innocence of Muslim (walau sangat terlambat, karena di negara lain sudah tidak terlalu "in" alias mereda), mari kita lihat fakta dan fiksinya:

1. Film ini bukan dibuat oleh Amerika, tapi dibuat oleh ORANG Amerika, dan White House/pemerintah resmi Amerika sendiri tidak mengetahui apalagi mendukung film ini. A a a, jangan argumen kalau 1 orang Amerika = Amerika. Itu sama saja dengan berkata Indonesia negara bom bunuh diri atau pembuat video porno berisi (konon) 40 wanita. Perbuatan perseorangan bukan berarti perbuatan satu negara.

2. Pembuat film ini adalah seorang Kristen Coptic (Mesir) yang membuat film ini karena merasa Kristen Coptic ditekan oleh Muslim Mesir (walau pihak Coptic membantah, orang ini memang sableng saja). Sisi Amerikanya? Kebetulan Sam Bacile ini bekerja di Amerika dan menjadi warga negara sana. Amerika mengadakan naturalisasi imigran/masuk kewarganegaraan tiap tahunnya. Asia, Afrika, negara Persia, semua yang memenuhi syarat bisa menjadi warga negara Amerika. Sayangnya termasuk si Kacrut ini.

3. Para aktornya pun tidak mengetahui mereka membuat film tentang Nabi Muhammad. Mereka hanya diberi script satu dua paragraph tiap harinya. Dan setelah film ini selesai, ada pihak lain yang tanpa seijin si pembuat menerjemahkan ke bahasa arab/mesir dengan kata-kata yang lebih ekstrim.

4. Pemerintah Amerika sudah menangkap kacrut pembuat/produser film ini dan mempertimbangkan langkah hukum terhadapnya.

Sekarang, apakah ada alasan untuk mendemo kedubes Amerika?

Amerika memiliki "right for Free Speech" alias "hak kebebasan berbicara". Sangat disayangkan bahwa film Sam Bacile ini terlindungi oleh aturan ini. Tapi begitu pula film-film atau pendapat lain dari orang Amerika yang mendiskreditkan Gay, kaum minoritas, pemeluk Kristen lainnya, apapun bahkan didalam Amerika sendiri. Bahkan ada film yang mendiskreditkan presiden Obama serta kelompok yang berdemo memaki maki di pemakaman orang, dan mereka tidak bisa ditangkap atau dihukum. Tidak menyenangkan, tapi itu aturan mereka. Indonesia pun punya aturan sendiri, Pancasila misalnya. Apakah Cina atau Korea Utara boleh protes bahwa kita percaya Tuhan? Jelas tidak. Lagipula, bila anda mencermati berita luar negeri anda bisa melihat bahwa publik Amerika mengecam kebodohan si pembuat film. Sekian orang tewas dan terluka hanya karena seorang idiot yang bermain dengan api/mencari masalah.

Kenapa harus ada demo-demo anti Amerika? Kenapa harus ada tuntutan agar SBY menekan Amerika? Indonesia BUKAN negara Muslim bung. Kemerdekaan kita diraih dengan perjuangan dan nyawa pejuang Bali, Batak, Kalimantan, Cina, Betawi, semua suku di Indonesia yang notabene memeluk beragam agama. Silakan demo, tapi jangan bawa nama Indonesia. Kalau segitu pedulinya dengan film s!@l dari antah berantah itu sampai siap jihad dan mati merusuh di kedubes Amerika, kenapa ga ada yang siap membela Ahmadiyah? Atau konflik Sampang? Atau muslim di daerah terpencil Indonesia yang hidupnya teramat sangat kekurangan? Skala prioritas bung! Jangan mengurus konflik yang jauh tapi yang depan mata tidak ditoleh.

Apapula faedah merusuh? Stating your point alias menyatakan sikap? Ini bukan Islam yang saya kenal. Islam yang saya tahu itu adalah agama yang damai. Tangan-tangan ramah yang menggandeng saya selama ini, senyuman hangat yang saya lihat seusai sholat, bahkan teman saya seorang bule Amerika yang pernah ditugaskan di Sulawesi pun mengagumi keramahan pemeluk Islam disana. Ini Islam yang saya tahu. Kemarahan dan ajakan "setan" ala Al Qaeda (yang memuji penyerangan dan pembunuhan pasca film ini) hanya memperkuat vonis umat non-muslim bahwa film br*ngs*k itu benar adanya. Saya tidak mau itu terjadi. Islam terlalu indah dan berharga untuk dilecehkan seperti ini oleh umatnya sendiri.

Urusan anda kalau benci Amerika. Tapi ada cara yang lebih ciamik: jadi lebih hebat dari mereka. Kalau dulu ilmuwan Islam disegani karena kehebatan mereka, kalau dulu Indonesia sebegitu hebatnya sampai bangun Borobudur, kenapa sekarang puas cuma jadi perusuh dan maki-maki ga jelas? Saya yakin Islam lebih baik dari sekedar demo-demo yang terekspos di TV. Berani membuktikan? ;)

"Stick and stones can break my bones but words can really hurt me!"

I read about the world's ugliest woman. Yes, she isn't pretty; but the comments about her take ugliness to do the new level. In a Youtube clip about her, people called her "monster", "it", and even said she should kill herself. I mean, seriously?? She's no beauty queen, but why should she kill herself because of how she looked? And most importantly, what right do one has to talk in such gruesome way to her?

The rise of internet has unfortunately gave birth to trolls, who freely throw insult to others cloaked in anonymity. It is understandably more convenient to say bad things to other over the net, than to hurl it face to face with no backup or anonymity at all. Reading comments, say in the Yah**, would make you think that almost all the active internet users are either illiterate or a bunch of savages. Free speech? Maybe. But what about consequences?

The most damaging consequences in hate speech/verbal bullying/trolling is the emotional impact. Broken bones can be mended easily, but broken heart is not that easy. Nor can self confidence, in that matter. What seemed to be a harmless effortless insult can be something damaging instead. In Libya this week, it costs lives. In Tyler Clementi case, it costs life. In any bullying case, it costs life: a life where one has to live with destructed self confidence because of words of others is by all means no life at all.

A writing in time.com (http://nation.time.com/2012/09/12/to-the-shores-of-benghazi/) stated: "Bacile is an idiot willing to toss fuel on smoldering embers – and then expresses surprise when it erupts into flames." This brings us to the other side of the consequences. Those who dare to speak must be willing to accept the results of their speech. Go and insult a man's momma in front of him and get ready for a good punch in the face. Tell a woman she look like a hag and get ready for a good sharp slap. Tell parents that their son/daughter is trash and get ready to see a gun pointing at your head (ok, I'm exaggerating. But you get my drift). If you pay consequences for your words which were spoken in public/person to person, why should words spoken in the internet (albeit in the cloak of anonymity) be different?

Some might argue that people need to stop being so sensitive and get offended easily; and bully victims deserve the terrible treatment because they are weak. But why blame others? Why not just restrain ourselves from saying hurtful things? What's the benefit of that anyway? You can't get prettier by calling someone ugly, nor becoming a rocket scientist by calling someone stupid. And if you can't resist the urge to say hurtful things, prepare to stand up and accept the consequence.

We live in a less than ideal world, a savage place where one might intentionally hurt other just for one's vile amusement. Which is odd because no other animal hurt their own species only for fun. But humans also have what other species don't have: kind words and warm smile. The world may be less than ideal, but we can make it a better place to live simply by respecting others. As The Queen in Lewis Carrol's Alice said: "Curtsey while you're thinking. It saves time." For all its worth, I hope one manage to speak something nice after thinking it first ;).