Laughing Man at the Rain Forests

perasaan itu remuk, pecah, terburai

ditengah penatang malam

hanya ceceran yang tampak

tidak jelas, pekat, buram, bergemerisik

menanti kilatan cahaya hakiki

tanpa berujung, tiada berakhir, tidak berhenti

bahkan harapan pun absen

lenyap, pudar

menunggu

dan menunggu

pengampunan, penebusan

mungkin sekedar pelarian

Recently, a lot of things has happened, you may say it’s like an emotional roller coaster. It’s enjoyable, I could feel life thoroughly. Let’s skip the details, for I don’t really delight on what’s happening on myself.

My friend just lend me a music CD that was made by former street kids. At first I just expect some high note, loud and active kind of music, but I don’t expect that they make some simple video as, so-called, video clip. The clip itself has a lot of scenes about street life in Jakarta. Usually when I see this type of presentation, I will start analyze, try to seeing a solution and start to imagining what kind of effort we can contribute to improve their life.

But this time is different, due to things happened recently perhaps, what I can see is only simple pure feeling, no lingering question of why, what and how.. Somehow I think this is what we call an “empathy”.

Thank You God that You really answer my prayer. I am able to see life as it is. Pure and true life. Not from “top view” which often leads me to boredom and masquerade myself to accommodate others. Yet these experience and feeling I have is really make me human, and I feel grateful for this.

Last night I attended this talk by World Vision, a Christian Relief Organisation that focus on tackling social issues. Quite a big organisation, if not the largest, and though they openly declare that they are “Christian”, the way they operate is not really in “Christianizing” way. I mean they won’t evangelize if the situation doesn’t allow to do so. Some would say that they are not “very concerned” about people salvation, but they say what good would it do, if people know God yet never be released from poverty, hunger and injustice…

Heck, I agree with them, and I think that’s the message of salvation that Christian should brings, renewal and restoration of community (not simply about heaven or hell and eternal life). Exactly like what Jesus did while He was still with us, healing those who sick, tend to the poor, and announcing that Kingdom of God is coming

Back to the talk, that night they invited people from Blue Dragon Project from Vietnam that protect and care for the need of street kids (runaway, trafficked, drugs and AIDS related, slum dweller, etc) which is started by a University Teacher there and adopted by World Vision. The talk itself is, as always, heart wrenching and quite eye opening for those who never realised that there are kids out there that live in same way as roaches and rats. Scavenging, scurrying, and hiding with none to protect them. A cruel way for kids to recognize the world, but it happens. And the saddest part is actually the solution has never been that complicated as long as someone tries but simply nobody tried.

In this occasion, aside of fund raising, they also introduced to us a kid from vietnam that will be receiving a scholarship to study in Singapore. I use this chance to ask him one question that, usually, every child has an answer to; which is: “What is your dream?”

His answer is simple: “I don’t know.”

Well, for me it’s quite expected. It’s not my first time seeing street kids. I realize that this is another part of bitter reality of the world we live in. Every children has a dream, or so they say, but if you see with open eyes actually it’s never been that way. How could they afford to have a dream if they never find the beauty of the world they live in?

But it seems the audience is quite surprised. Well, dream is a thing that every people should has. Then his, so called, caretaker offer an explanation to this I-don’t-know answer. He said that it’s quite true that kids which usually oppressed and live in fear won’t dare to have a dream.  And to release them from this oppression, hence fear, actually won’t take more than our concern and presence as another fellow of human being that is already “ahead”.

Like the case of one trafficked kid, actually his parent is only receiving $200 annually from the trafficker. This is already the best case, most of trafficker usually run away with their kid without paying anything. So just imagine, with only spare $200 annually you can saved 1 kid from being trafficked. How powerful it may be? Sure as h*ll won’t solve the problem of child trafficking in one swoop, but I always believe 1 kid saved is making a greatest impact in making a better world.

Well, perhaps they need more time to have a dream, or to start having one. Yet worst come to worst at least they already have a “role model” that they can aim to be. People that gives their lives for other people’s cause. I guess that should be enough for now.

Price of yourselves

But grace.

I love to see this kind of “back alley” view. Where everything seems deserted and forgotten while “living space” is actually not far from it. We could find them everywhere, very often in the center part of the most “lively and happening” area.

It just remind me how often we forget to take care the inner part of ourselves yet cares a lot for outer appearance. Be a good friend but not a good brother, a good young man but not a good son, a good counsel and elder but not a good parent. Where we looks dependable when we are just simply jumbled up inside.

This two weeks “holiday” is really teaching me about adulthood where childish side is mostly found there..

However, yes, IT IS REALITY.

Always thank God. Especially for family and siblings that has shown me that human, though they are brittle, will be made very strong when they decide to stick together facing all this reality of life.

Love you pa, ma, sis and bro.

When you say: “Yo are so GAY”. Is it principally offensive?

YES, IT IS!

Why is it offensive? because it’s SO WRONG man.. (and woman too)

Why is it SO WRONG? hm you got me there.. But the obvious answer is because I WILL BE OFFENDED (if you say it seriously of course)

Recently Same Sex Orientation issue is raising up to the surface again, check out few news here:

Protest on Gay Treatment

Gay marriage row at Miss USA show

Miss California could sue for “pressure” to discriminaze

I do believe it’s WRONG to marry someone with same sex, why? Because I believe there is a purpose in why people created with two different gender.. And, honestly, it’s somehow unintelligent to pick same gender partner, it’s like you choose to breath with only one side of nose hole when you have two, or seeing with only one eyes when you can use two..

I just don’t get it Man, really..

This is my prayer today.. Thank You Lord

We were fools to believe that we would redeem each other.

Were I some sleeping Adam, to wake and find you resting at my rib, to share these things that God has done, to walk you through the garden, to counsel your timid steps, your bewildered eye, your heart so slow to love, so careful to love, so sheepish that I stepped up my aim and became a man.

Is this what God intended? That though He made you from my rib, it is you who is making me, humbling me, destroying me, and in so doing revealing Him.

Will we be in ashes before we are one?

(found it in old notes, in memory of progressing to become a man)

You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile

Love these pictures.

Portray irony of this age struggling for identity.

Living in the time that offer unlimited choices yet gives almost no meaning, where too many options gives not flexibility but confusion, endless innovation gives more waste than benefit,

where people pushing to be different while end up bounded by the very same greed..

What a paradox.

(Phew, today I slept for 10 hour straight and still feel sleepy… Not really having anything to do makes me stress)

Another hot topic around the net: Pirate bay, World No.1 files swapping websites is found guilty on copyright infringement.

See the main story and the discussion

Plenty of websites that is used on (assisting) transfer of copyrighted material could make away with this reason: “We don’t share any files; we just link to material. There’s no difference between us and Google”

Yet the most fundamental legal question to answer is were they grossly negligent if they continued to offer the service once they knew it was being used to infringe copyright.

The copyright law is always debatable subject as you can see in the discussion above.. Yet, we must admit this “stealing-or-not” matter is just becoming worse after consumerialism and globalization, which grow is so fast that it’s no longer compherensible to human concept of law. Say the author of book, could use this “swapping” website as a mean of promotion, but for distributor, it could means a competitor.. Furthermore, law is always subjected to teritorial boundary (unless all the countries come into one nation)

And we haven’t talked about MONEY here, which could make anything becomes really ugly…

Let our conscience decides, but in the spirit of honesty, not greed.