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Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Kalori Kosong

Kalo baca status motivasional biasanya pada manggut-manggut dan merasa tercerahkan bagai minum krim pemutih. Padahal banyak lho status motivasional yang seperti Frappucinonya starbux, sedap dimulut dan penuh kalori tapi kalori kosong. Habis minum bukannya kenyang malah diabetes eh maksud saya masih lapar, atau malah jadi inguh/gelisah sendiri.

Jualan motivasi mah sama seperti jualan agama, modal kecil hasil maksimal. Pokoknya asal Salam Super atau jargon positif lainnya laris manis deh, biarpun itu tadi, cuma kalori kosong. Bagus kalo kalori kosongnya cuma cuapan sendiri, seringkali nyolong terang-terangan dari motivator lain yang juga nyolong. Walhasil satu foto/konten/postingan bisa nongol dari 3-4 orang lain secara serentak di timeline fesbuk, tanpa info siapa sebenarnya pemilik konten tersebut. Ceramahnya soal memperbaiki diri tapi nyolong jalan terus. Jyahhhh....

Gimana membedakan motivator yang asli dengan yang kalori kosong? Yang asli biasanya feelnya ada. Yang paling penting dari motivasi inspirasi etc itu adalah honesty, kejujuran. Orang yang sudah pernah merasakan hilangnya harta akibat boros pastinya bisa ceramah pengaturan keuangan dengan lebih menggebu daripada yang sekedar tahu dari bacaan. Pun mereka nggak mempromosikan sesuatu yang mereka nggak bisa jamin kebenarannya.

Misalnya saja: "Dengan mengubah pola pikir anda anda bisa sukses!". Ini sebenarnya nggak salah lho. Biar saya sampai bego berpikir saya pantas jadi Miss Universe nggak mungkin saya bisa jadi Miss Universe; tapi kalau saya mengubah pola pikir saya dan menggapai hal-hal yang memang keahlian saya tentunya saya bisa sukses juga dan tak perduli bahwa saya bukan Miss Universe. Sayangnya ini biasanya diselewengkan dan jadilah orang-orang berdasi lusuh berusaha menjajakan dagangan (mlm) nya sambil terus berharap dan bermimpi "Saya akan sukses!". Padahal sukses bukan cuma attitude dan mind set, sukses juga kudu punya skill.

Mau bagaimana lagi, yang dijual motivatornya juga bahan mentah, apa iya yang beli bisa dapat nutrisinya? Ibarat jual beras vs jual nasi, yang pintar dan bermodal (kompor, dandang, kayu bakar) pastinya bisa mendapat manfaat lebih dari beras mentah, tapi yang nggak punya/kurang cerdas dan/atau kurang modal lebih perlu nasi yang sudah jadi. Susahnya ya itu, kalau yang jualan juga sebenarnya nggak bermodal dan nggak berpikir. Lebih susah lagi kalau yang jualan juga cuma mikirin untungnya saja, peduli setan nasib yang beli.

Motivator dan agamawan itu harusnya orang-orang yang sangat mencintai sesamanya, makanya tujuan hidup mereka membuat hidup orang lain lebih baik via motivasi atau ajaran agama mereka. They believe in human, mereka percaya akan kekuatan manusia. Berasa lho bedanya dengar teman yang bilang "You can do it!" karena mereka benar-benar percaya sama kita dan ingin kita berhasil, vs yang basa-basi "Yeah loe pasti bisa kok" padahal nggak peduli. Motivator dan agamawan yang terbaik juga yang sudah pernah mencicip ajarannya sendiri. Ibarat koki, yang paling oke adalah yang sering masak dan berpengalaman, bukan newbie yang cuma modal sekian banyak buku memasak.

Tapi apa kita peduli? Nggak juga. Buktinya frappucino laku terus bukan? Kopi hitam di cafe terkenal juga dianggap lebih elit dari kopi hitam di warkop pinggiran, walau sebenarnya nggak bisa ngebedain rasanya. Kita suka yang bling-bling, yang wah, yang instan. Kita suka minuman manis yang bikin kita merasa super dengan instan walau isinya cuma kalori kosong.  Nggak apa-apa sih sebenarnya, asal jangan cuma itu saja asupan kalorinya. Bisa busung lapar otak dan hati nantinya.

Kenapa saya reseh? Mungkin karena saya cinta manusia, termasuk anda-anda yang membaca tulisan saya sampai sejauh ini. We can do better, you can do better daripada cuma jadi mangsa para motivator penjual kalori kosong ini. Enak bener mereka cuap-cuap tanpa mampu mempertanggungjawabkan jualannya. Tapi ya itu tadi, semua balik ke anda untuk beli frappucino atau beli es degan (yang paling nggak ada tape dan jeli nya), antara beli mi instan (baca: spagheti) merk luar negeri vs mie tek-tek abang-abang. Pilihlah menu yang menutrisi hati dan otak ya mas/mbak, dan yang disajikan dengan pengetahuan serta pengalaman yang memadai. Buat diri sendiri pastikan yang terbaik :)

Monday, June 6, 2016

The Fire Burns

The fire danced merrily
The beautiful peaks
The irresistible glow
The promise of warmth
And the fool was enthralled

Look. Do not touch. It is not yours.

She touched it anyway
The burns still pained her
Yet still she sat there, engrossed
Her hands stretched forward
Ready for yet another embrace

Look. Do not touch. Let go.

She had poured sand on it
Sharp sand that scraped her
She had poured water on it
Cold water that shocked her
Still the fire burns

Look. Do not touch. Enough.

Can't she simply enjoy?
Can't she simply ignore?
In the world of darkness
In the world of loneliness
The fire burns ever so bright

Look away. Step away. Go.

The pain is the pricking of a thousand needles
The sting of seawater over wound
The scab and scar debilitate her
Yet the fire still burns
The fool still stays

Inhale. Exhale. Accept

One day she will walk away
The day will come, the night will end
She will dance as merry as the fire
Glowing as bright as the fire
She will be the fire

But till then, the fire burns….

Friday, June 3, 2016

Miracle on The Hill Street

I can feel my head spun a bit as I walk to their table. Two ladies in red. We met on the elevator on our way to the swanky rooftop French Bistro in DTLA. I had overheard them saying it was one of the ladies' birthday, and they had been so nice as to wave to me from their table and even offering me a martini, "My treat!" she had mouthed from a far. To which I regretfully declined with a smile. I was already too buzzed from my Writer's Block. But they were nice, and the day was beautiful. So I went to say Happy Birthday to them before I leave. What happened (in a true click-bait style) was unbelievable.

I told them Happy Birthday. I thanked them for their kind gesture. I explained to them that I was ready to pack up my bag and go home to Indonesia because I feel there's nothing left for me here. Angel and Grace (let's called them that way, such fitting names) told me I shouldn't give up. Grace was married to a Dutch-Indonesian and she raved about how delicious Gado-gado and Rijstaffel are, and that Indonesian food is simply the best in the world. Grace compliment my necklace, given to me by my mom, and insist that I am here in LA for a reason; that we were there together for a reason. She told me that the elevator got held up 4 times before I came. 4 times it came but won't go up. Until I came. I almost cried in happiness and disbelief there, and Grace exclaimed: "Best birthday gift ever!" And over and over again they say: Don't go home just yet, don't give up.

Miracle is not only a comatose person woke up in the nick of time before they cut off the life support. Miracle is not only winning a jackpot or finding a treasure out of the blue. Miracle is not only parting the sea so people could pass, or turn water into wine. Miracle is finding the gentle arms of God around you, when you feel like you can't take it anymore. Miracle is looking at the cityscape of Los Angeles, defeated and broken inside, and have God sit next to you and say "Chill girl, you're good." And yes, miracle happens to me, to us, every single day. Everyone that I cross path with, every smile and every nice words, every laughter and every kindness, they are all miracles. It doesn't have to happen, but it did. And it happened for a reason.

But as much as I want to thank God for the miracles, I realize that the miracles can only happen because of God's other miracle: human. We are a pile of flesh and bones and liquid that moves, make decision, better ourselves. From the moment of our creation till the day that we die our body is a miracle in itself. Our action is another miracle. How we act, how we think, what we say, they all have impact to other people. Not merely in a lowest sense of 'protecting territory' or 'mating', but also to make ourselves better, or worse. What I did in LA can make an impact for a person in Indonesia, or a reader in South Africa. Let it sink for a moment. No other creature in this earth could make such a big impact to one another except us human, be it good or bad. The women choose to be nice to me. I choose to went over to say Happy Birthday. No strings attached, no hidden agenda, yet I was rewarded with a miracle.

The world is suffering. We see pain, poverty, hunger, and everything bad wherever we go. But do people have to be more unfortunate than you to receive your grace and kindness? It's easy to feel sorry for people who are visibly in need, but what about others who do not, cannot, show their pain? The ladies in red didn't have to be that nice to me, I was a nobody to them. Neither do I look in need for help that afternoon. But they choose to be nice to me, as many other before them. And I choose to be nice to them, just because I think it's nice to be nice. And it made a great difference for me. Imagine all the other people that you, that we, could have saved if only we did random act of kindness. Imagine all the smile, the happiness, the joy you could, we could, bring to this world.

Kindness is something that has to be given freely. Not because you think you should because God says so, or because society presses you to do so. Kindness should happen because you feel it's right, because you want to treat people the way you want to be treated. Kindness means stripping out another person's identity (clothing, facial features, skin color, belief, etc) in your head and see the human soul inside him/her. Kindness means no judgement, no prejudice. Kindness means loving others, just like a lot of religion have preached. And you know what, kindness feels so damn good; both for the giver and for the receiver.

I might never meet the ladies in red again. It all maybe just an inebriated night for all of us. But the miracle has happened and it is mine forever. On the day I was lost I was found again. On the day I was lonely I was embraced again. On the day I was broken I was mend again. Thank you God for your miracle, thank you ladies in red that made the miracle happen. Isn't human awesome?!

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