Repost: T.G.I.F. huh??

Here's a little repost from my own post in my joined blog with my friends. Visit: http://philosophiers.blogspot.com

Hope you enjoy it!

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T.G.I.F huh??

By: Bagus Arya Wirapati

Well, I guess it's been a very while since the last time we posts something on this precious blog of our dear friendship. Even though, some part of this friendship has turned out to be a loveship actually. Yes! Yes, I am talking about the one that requests a post with the shortest post in this earth right before this post, since both of them are the contributor for this blog. Please, sir, make yourself a real post also... :D

Now, now, since we have grown a little, and most of us have graduated and trapped inside the cruel, real-life, maybe a little shifting in our genre would be acceptable, wouldn't it? I want to talk about a phrase that we never say it very dearly before like today.

But, before we proceed to the main course, I would like tell a little story which inspires me so much in the past, about this certain person that had always been a friend of mine in my one year journey to remote area.

His name is Een, I usually call him Kang Een since he is a Sundanese, probably late twenty at the moment. He is our school caretaker is Muara Basung. This Kang Een is no ordinary caretaker, at least that's what I thought about him. He might be only a face in the crowd for most of us, even for most of our students, since he doesn't stand out too much. He usually have things done without being noticed at all. But, I found this guy to be very incredible when it comes to his job.

At one time he told me a story about his dream, that he actually does not want to be a caretaker like this, that he has a more promising dream, more fortune in it. However, fate brought him here as our beloved caretaker. Well, he is not that an angel-like person with all of his good traits. You might find him quite a delinquent but let us put that aside since he is bigger than that.

I heard a story that this Kang Een is the one that revitalize most of our school property that was quite trashed out one year prior to my arrival there. He came to my newly appointed headmaster that also has brought Kang Een there to work. He said that he want to rejuvenate the school. He then explained about the re-painting of the school, providing his plan about the color that would looks good for this place, a match with the color Muara Basung unique soil, also for the roofs. He also plan to clean and fixed the filthy bathroom which seems to be neglected for quite some times before Kang Een arrives. And then, the establishment of library and health unit which happens to be also the dream of our headmaster.

I learned that that was the beginning story of this school, the reason behind why I am always amazed by the tidiness and cleanliness of this wonderful school. It was because Kang Een's endless hardwork and visionary thinking about the ideal school environment for the student. After all of that hardwork he was still planning for the next development, that is planting grass on our school ground and flowers in front our class corridors. He already has an imagination about how the flower should be arranged and how he wanted to have a group of  bush arranged to spell our school's name.

It is just amazing. He already figured out and imagined everything about the ideal environment of this school, something that is not usually planned by a caretaker. A job that people usually underestimate and Kang Een was doing it to the fullest, or maybe beyond that. He works 24/7 with a number of holiday less than every of us. He is not only do what he is ordered but also think about what he should really do. He makes vision just like the rest of us with a more distinguished and seemingly honorable job description. But, he never said a word related to Thank God It's Friday (T.G.I.F.)

For us, the people who works five days a week, learning from a kind of person like Kang Een is a must. Why do we keep complaining about our jobs? Going to work every Monday grumbling and spend the rest of the week working while fully hoped for the Friday to come? Keep complaining about how we do not get a raise in salary? Keep on crying T.G.I.F every Friday and simultaneously curse when Monday is about to come, asking for more holidays?

Those are not sins, maybe those are not wrong at all. But, aren't we ashamed with Kang Een. He is paid lower than most of us yet he is doing his job more than he is expected to be. Kang Een has a bigger dream as he said to me back then, yet he is still doing that considered small job very well. Kang Een never had a specific holiday to say Thank God to, yet he proceed through the day as if it is nothing. I may not know how he feels inside but, at least he did not show any complaining on his situation.

We might want to say that we have achieved higher education that we are worth for more comfortable life. But, we must not forget that we are lucky enough to have parents or other persons to pay us for a higher education for that comfortable life. If we want to say that we have specialization that he don't have, then try doing those chores he is working on. I have try it and I know that for that kind of job, we also need a specialization, means that people like Kang Een should be paid more. However, the system does not allow us to paid him higher.

I don't want to be the good guy here, because I am also the one feels ashamed here. I was also the person who keeps complaining about life until I try to enjoy it more than before. My chance encounter with Kang Een has put more elation on my life, that maybe most of us missed the key of enjoying our job.

It is on "Do what you love, and love what you do" where the key lies.

In a condition, where we are unable to do what we love, it is loving what we do that surpasses all. Kang Een shows me how he try to love what he do, despite him having a bigger different dream than what he is doing currently. That is why in the end, he never tempted to complain too much about his situation.

Let us all think that we are lucky enough to have this considered better condition. Then let us try to love this situation, this job more than before until we stop complaining, as Kang Een with relatively less lucky condition was able to. Moreover, if we would say that our situation is worse than him, the try quitting your job and do his job. That is when you will understand the meaning of loving your job, because the possibility is twofold, you might find that being a caretaker is your passion then you can love the job, or that you regret complaining about your previous job and can finally love your previous job which you cannot return to now that it is too late. That is what it means to "do what you love and love what you do".

Let us learn from this person named Kang Een and forget the T.G.I.F. words, let us just do what we love and love what we do.

Smile eternally,

Wirapati

At Sky Is Our Reflection

Sky-gazing has always been a favorite thing for me. It has always been my childhood hobby to gaze up-high to the widespread of the blue substances or the black-starry carpet above my head. Sky-gazing had always made me imagine, "what lies beyond this seemingly unlimited sky?" It always gave me a sense of an endless adventure, adventure to discover my ability beyond the unlimited sky, that even sky is not a limit for me.

However, the sky that I really love cannot be seen anymore in my hometown, Jakarta. What lies above my head is not the favorite sapphire-blueish sky at noon, but a soiled sky which has turned to grayish, dirty blue. It has gone. The blue sky has gone.

It was a story when I was accompanying my student, Sabariah, to the final of Kuark Science Olympiad in Jakarta. In our journey, we met a certain child that my friend brought from Majene to participate on the same competition. His name is Angga. At one time, he asked me why can't he see the stars here in Jakarta, and moreover why does the sky looks like burning, as it has a color of dark red at that time, probably everyd eay in Jakarta.

Well, there's an explanation to this phenomena. Jakarta, having a tons of fossil-fueled vehicles running through its vein, has showered itself with an immense amount of pollution exhausted by the vehicles. Apparently, the polluting particle is slightly lighter that the air above the ground that it hollows the upper layer of air, trapped below the ozon layer. This polluted air create a substances which people usually called "Smog" (seems like a combination of Smoke and Fog), therefore covered the Jakarta's air with a fog-like substance from the accumulation of smoke. This is also the reason why the blue sky looks as if grayish.

As for the answer for that kid, at night, the smog block the light emitted by the star, making it invisible from the ground. Even a full moon would look blurry behind the smog wall. It is a little like the Rayleigh Scattering which explains why does the sky looks blue, apparently the light emitted by the stars and moon are scattered, making them looks unclear or in extreme way, unseen. This is also quite similar to how we cannot see them under cloudy weather.

The burning color comes from the city-light emitted by the sky-scrappers in the city. The lights, having yellow color in nature, showered the smog layer in the sky, painting it with orange color which makes it like burning. This phenomenon is similar to shooting light to a smoke or fog which gives us a view of yellow smoke or fog with addition that the smoke or fog is now can be seen much more clearly than before. These two reasons are behind the unseen stars and burning sky at night.

Well, now, right after I think of it, something crossed my mind. How this phenomena reflect ourselves in our lives. The pollution is an analogy of the bad things we had done in our lives. This bad things may be forgiven, but it may never be forgotten. In the end, the bad things, no matter how small it is, will cloud our good personality and blurred people's opinion on us. People will find it hard to see the stars inside us since the objectivity is clouded by the smog of our sin in the past.

Moreover, in that condition, people might talk bad on your good actions or your wealthiness. Nobody in this earth love the burning sky in Jakarta. People miss the starry pitch-black sky that accompany us in the night. You may have a wonderful city-lights inside you that you actually want people to feel enlightened even in the darkest night. You may have the most sincere motivation in doing so, probably to redeem yourself for the sin that you have done in the past. However, the smog is still there. What's left for your good doings is that burning sky that everybody hates, like a sinner wearing angel mask, and your cause is just not that sincere, as if you're a hypocrite.

I guess this is the point of no returning. You cannot turn-back time and undo your sin. But, really, I believe there is a reset button in this life like the one that we have in video games, a button called starting all over again. Once you stop polluting yourself, even though your crusade are being rejected like the burning sky, just believe that even the earth could regulate itself and little by little, it banishing the smoke out of the sky so that people could the starry sky they always missed. The same goes for us, one day the smog might disappear even though it leaves some traces, but people will start accepting you again, that you have redeemed yourself for all of your faulty life in the past.

Looking at the burning sky of Jakarta everyday, reminds me of my faults in the past and how I may have hurt people with that. But, I always know that every human has a place to be forgiven as long as they live their live for the good and leave the faulty behind. I must press this reset button and start things all over again, never repeating the same mistakes again, and returning the blue and starry skies that I always love. This is what life is meant to be, to learn from our every mistake to create a better tomorrow.

At sky is our reflection,
Wirapati

Siapakah "Negara" Itu?

Sudah lama juga tidak menulis dalam Bahasa Indonesia untuk blog ini. Aku memang mencoba banyak menggunakan bahasa Inggris untuk berlatih menggunakan bahasa internasional tersebut mengingat kemampuan bahasa Inggrisku yang masih kurang. Tapi, khusus kali ini, karena aku ingin berbicara sesuatu yang sangat erat kaitannya dengan bangsaku, bangsa Indonesia, maka kutuliskan ini dalam bahasa persatuan kami, bahasa Indonesia.

Aku ingat pernah menemukan pertanyaan yang dilontarkan oleh seorang teman di kampus tentang “negara”, Temanku ini bertanya dalam status Facebook-nya, sebuah pertanyaan yang menyangkut UUD 1945 Pasal 34.

“Fakir miskin dan anak terlantar dipelihara oleh negara. Siapakah 'Negara' itu?”

Ini adalah pertanyaan yang cukup menarik dan kurasa setiap orang bisa saja memberikan jawaban yang berbeda dengan perspektif masing-masing yang berbeda pula. Apakah definisi dari entitas yang disebut negara ini? Tentunya bukan pemerintah saja bukan? Karena pemerintah adalah salah satu bagian dari entitas negara. Pertanyaan dapat berlanjut menjadi bagaimana negara “memelihara” fakir miskin dan anak terlantar ini?

Aku memiliki perspektifku sendiri untuk menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan ini. Entah apakah ada orang lain yang memiliki perspektif yang sama denganku atau tidak, tapi aku mendapatkan jawaban sederhana ini dari kontemplasi yang kuperoleh saat mengajar PPKn sewaktu aku masih menjadi guru sekolah dasar sebagai salah satu Pengajar Muda Gerakan Indonesia Mengajar. Betapa menariknya bagiku, bahwa jawaban ini bisa dijawab dengan ilmu yang diajarkan kepada murid sekolah dasar, setidaknya menurut perspektifku.

Semua definisi ini berawal dari pertanyaan mendasar, “apakah syarat sebuah negara?”

Syarat sebuah negara adalah memiliki wilayah, memiliki penduduk, dan memiliki pemerintahan yang berdaulat. Tanpa salah satunya, maka sebuah entitas tidak dapat dikatakan sebagai sebuah negara (tentu saja, bayangkan ada negara tanpa salah satu dari ketiganya), Sehingga, melalui syarat-syarat tersebut yang membentuk keberadaan negara, dapatlah kita simpulkan bahwa ketiganyalah yang harus memelihara fakir miskin dan anak terlantar di negara ini berdasarkan konstitusi.

Kita mulai dari pemerintah. Sangat jelas bahwa di negara manapun, pemerintah berkewajiban untuk menjaga kelangsungan hidup fakir miskin (tidak membiarkan mereka mati kelaparan atau sakit) dan melakukan usaha pengentasan kemiskinan. Aku rasa hal ini sangat jelas dan tidak ada perdebatan apakah perlu pemerintah memberikan dukungan kepada para fakir miskin. Sebab, negara seliberal Amerika Serikat sekalipun, ternyata tidak kalah sosialis dengan negara sosialis kebanyakan dalam hal penyantunan orang miskin. Tidak perlu dijelaskan dengan lebih jauh.

Kemudian, penduduk Indonesia harus memelihara fakir miskin dan anak terlantar. Dengan kata lain, kita semua, walaupun kita bukan bagian dari pemerintahan, harus memelihara mereka. Banyak cara yang bisa dilakukan. Contoh paling sederhananya adalah menyantuni mereka. Mungkin banyak orang yang memiliki perspektif bahwa menyantuni dengan memberi uang atau barang tidak efektif, karena hanya berjangka pendek sehingga tidak menyelesaikan masalah. Kalau begitu bisa dilakukan dengan memberikan mereka pekerjaan, atau pendidikan yang layak agar mereka dapat mandiri di kemudian hari. Namun, kita tidak boleh lupa, definisi penduduk dalam syarat tersebut tidak memiliki batasan tertentu. Artinya, fakir miskin dan anak terlantar juga termasuk dalam kategori penduduk tersebut. Dengan kata lain, mereka juga harus memelihara dirinya sendiri. Mereka juga harus punya semangat untuk mandiri dan melepaskan diri dari kemiskinan dengan kemampuannya sendiri. Sehingga, mereka tidak boleh hanya berpangku tangan dan menunggu disuapi oleh orang yang lebih beruntung. Kata penduduk berlaku bagi semua penduduk Indonesia, tidak terkecuali kaya atau miskin.

Terakhir, wilayah NKRI harus memelihara fakir miskin dan anak terlantar. Apa artinya? Artinya, seluruh wilayah Indonesia beserta sumber daya yang berada di dalamnya harus dapat digunakan sebaik-baiknya untuk kepentingan rakyatnya, termasuk fakir miskin dan anak terlantar. Sehingga, seharusnya sumber daya alam, mineral, energi dan lainnya harusnya dapat diakses dengan mudah termasuk oleh para fakir miskin dan anak terlantar. Inilah yang seringkali dilupakan oleh pemerintah. Banyak kendala kemiskinan di negara ini sebenarnya berasal dari masalah yang disebut “akses”. Banyak orang miskin yang tidak memliki akses yang mudah terhadap bahan makanan bernutrisi. Banyak orang miskin yang tidak memiliki akses yang mudah kepada lapangan kerja atau untuk membuka usaha. Banyak pedesaan yang belum terakses terhadap listrik atau telekomunikasi. Justru syarat pertama dari sebuah negara adalah pemegang kunci dasar pengentasan kemiskinan yang banyak terlupakan oleh banyak orang.

Akses tidak harus berupa penyediaan secara gratis. BIsa dilakukan dengan penyediaan dalam harga yang murah, diimbangi dengan akses terhadap mata pencaharian yang memadai atau pendidikan yang memadai untuk mengolahnya. Untuk dapat mengoperasikan “wilayah” agar dapat memelihara fakir miskin, diperlukan usaha dan kerja sama dari dua syarat lainnya, yaitu adalah pemerintah dan penduduk. Oleh karena itu, penting bagi pemerintah dan penduduk, tidak terkecuali fakir miskin itu sendiri, untuk menyediakan atau minimal mempermudah akses bagi fakir miskin dan anak terlantar untuk mengakses sumber daya yang ada dalam NKRI. Sehingga, "wilayah" tidak seakan hanya dimiliki oleh segelintir orang saja.

Kesimpulannya, mengatasi masalah kemiskinan, serta memelihara para fakir miskin dan anak terlantar di Indonesia adalah tugas bagi seluruh isi dari negara Indonesia, terutama seluruh warga negara Indonesia, tanpa terkecuali. Percuma jika pemerintah dan penduduk lainnya berusaha mengentaskan kemiskinan, tetapi orang-orang miskin tidak memiliki keinginan dan turut berusaha mengeluarkan dirinya sendiri dari kemiskinan. Juga sebaliknya, percuma jika orang miskin membanting tulang memperbaiki kualitas hidupnya tetapi tidak didukung atau lebih parahnya lagi jika dihambat oleh pemerintah dan penduduk lainnya, karena ingin menguasai sumber daya yang ada di wilayah Indonesia bagi dirinya sendiri. Semua harus memiliki kesadaran untuk turut berpartisipasi tanpa terkecuali. Itulah makna sebenarnya dari berbangsa dan bernegara.

Salam,
Wirapati

Finally, I Understand...

It was a piece of story from my experience from my one year experience as a voluntary primary teacher in Rupat island. This story may appear insignificant, but it shows me a big lesson in life. It shows me how to empathize others, especially those who less fortunate than me.

I was the advisory teacher for our school science olympics team. It was quite difficult back then, since this is the first time for these children to participate in any competition and I myself do not have any educational background in natural sciences. Fortunately, I have a big interest on sciences that I read quite a lot scientific references back when I was younger so that I could share some of my limited knowledge to these children.

Our school is not yet a year-old. It had just been formally established as national school. So, our sources are so much limited. There are not many tools that can be utilized for our trainings and exercises. Therefore, we need to provide the tools ourselves.

We were trying to train with tools that we can collect from our surroundings, such as plastic bags, plastic glass and bottles, tree branches, everything. However, there are times that I did not expect that I must use my own money to buy necessary tools that I cannot find from our environment. This is how I deplete my cash back then.

In our island, there is no bank tellers nor ATMs. If we want to draw cash from our savings, we have to go to Dumai, the nearest city from our island. However, going to Dumai is not an easy thing. Taking speed boat to Dumai is quite expensive so that I can only travel there once in a month in order to waste less money. If I want to spend less money, I have to travel by land through a hellish mudland which spend a couple hours to get to Dumai. Therefore, I need to prepare petty cash enough for a whole month, including the travel cost to Dumai for the end of month. I usually prepare about a million IDR for my livings there.

Since I am the advisor for the olympics squad, that time I spend quite a lot of money for our training to buy tools and books in Dumai. Therefore, I leave not much money for in my deposits and could only prepare myself the usual amount of petty cash for that month, even though I know I must prepare more just in case I need to buy anything else for our activities that month. I was just taking it lightly that I only need to oppress my consumptions for this month. I never thought that I would be broke before the end of month.

One day, a week before the competition, I need to copy some exercises for our training. Copying in our island is very expensive. If in Jakarta we spend a hundred IDR or less for one copy, here, we spend about threefold the cost. This is how I came to be broke. I invite all of my students in our olympics squad, means that I have to provide every single of them with the copies. I never thought that it would be that expensive to copy all of this exercises.

I was quite shocked that I have to pay almost three hundred thousand IDR for those exercises. While I spend my five hundred thousand IDR for my hostfamily, and another one hundred thousand for my personal and training expenses, this leaves me with one hundred thousand IDR until the rest of the month. And it is still  about ten days before the end of month.

Well, surviving ten days with that amount of money is easy, actually. But, don't forget, I must pay for my travel cost to Dumai by the end of month and that cost me ninety thousand IDR. That leaves me with ten thousand. It was crazy.

That was the time when I feel so powerless. Not to mention to hangout in the village coffee stall, I cannot even buy a bread that cost one thousand IDR that I usually buy. I can only see those piles of bread on my way home from school, imagining their taste in my mouth, filling my hungry stomach. Well, it's not that I cannot eat, I can eat with my host family since they always provide me with foods everyday. But, I must sacrifice all of that amenities until the end of month. I must withstand my imagination of consuming all those foods and beverages, only be able to see others enjoying it. I feel suffered that time.

Then I come to contemplation, "this is how those who are less fortunate than me thinks when they see me enjoying amenities in front of them." Those less fortunate people could only see me, withstanding their own desire to have the same thing. But, they can't. They must be feeling powerless that time. They can do nothing but to imagine how is the taste of the foods I ate, the drinks I drank. I am now understand that after all this time, despite of me saying that I want to eradicate poverty, I lack of empathy.

So, this is how it feels to have nothing at all. So, this is how it feels to want something that seems very simple, not that luxurious, but you cannot have it. So, this is why my ancestors instruct us not to show our dinner in front of other people if we don't want to share it with them. This is why, I need to have more empathy, something I just realized that I am lacking of.

But then, something comes up in my mind. Is it too much for me to spend my cash for the sake of my student until I broke like this. I contemplate more, and come up with a conclusion that this is not too much. I have resources for these kids to learn more, while they might not have the resources. It is not too much, no, it is never too much to share what we have for those in needs. It is not like that I will die starving after this. I just have to hold my desires more. Then, I will not stop here. If it is for these kids to go to their dreams, to see Jakarta with science olympics, then I willingly sacrifice more than this. 

All of this journey have told me how I have to learn a lot, how I lack a lot life values. This one told me how to empathize. How I am very grateful to be in this journey. I am a teacher, but it seems I am the who learn more than anyone. I will never forget this experience, the one that taught me how I lack of empathy after all this time.

Smile eternally,

Wirapati