What would you do if you were me?

Seberapa sering orang minta pendapat kita ketika mereka sedang dirundung masalah? Entah itu teman, saudara, atau mungkin kenalan. Pasti pernah kan kita ditanya, “kalau kamu jadi aku, kamu pilih yang mana?” Atau sebaliknya, justru kita yang minta pendapat orang lain. Kalau kita yang ditanya, apa jawaban kita, paling sering sih “terserah kamu.” Jawaban ini selain tidak menjawab pertanyaan juga mengecewakan si penanya. Lalu bagaimana kita harus bersikap jika dimintai pendapat? Agak susah memang menjawab pertanyaan sederhana ini. Kita tidak berada di posisi si penanya, kita tidak merasakan apa yang dia rasakan, berandai-andai pun belum tentu berhasil. Tapi bukan berarti kita tidak memberi pendapat. Kita tetap harus berpendapat. Bukan sebagai orang yang berada di posisinya, tapi sebagai seseorang yang sedikit mengerti tentang dia. Kita ungkapkan saja pendapat pribadi kita, apa yang menurut kita tepat untuknya. Memang kita tidak mengenal dia sebaik dirinya sendiri, setidaknya pendapat kita bisa (semoga) menyadarkan dia dan membantu dia dalam memilih keputusan. Keputusan akhir tetap di tangannya, kita hanya memberi sedikit petunjuk sebelum ia memutuskan. Masalah dia mau mendengar atau tidak, itu terserah dia.
Jika situasinya terbalik, kita sebagai penanya, apa yang harusnya kita lakukan. Haruskah kita menanyakan kalimat di atas? Sebaiknya tidak, karena kita tidak akan mendapat jawaban yang memuaskan. Kita tidak bisa memaksa orang lain memposisikan diri mereka sebagai kita. Hal itu tidak akan berhasil. Kita lah yang punya masalah, bukan mereka. Meminta pendapat mereka itu sah saja, tapi memaksa mereka membuat keputusan untuk kita, itu tidak benar. Kita lah yang nantinya akan menjalani keputusan itu bukan mereka. Yang terbaik bagi mereka belum tentu terbaik bagi kita. Hanya kita yang tahu apa yang sebenarnya kita mau. Mereka hanya bisa membantu memberi pendapat, memberitahu plus minus tiap pilihan, dan memberi saran untuk kita. Keputusan tetap ada di tangan kita. Resiko dari pilihan kita, kita juga yang menanggungnya. Sebelum mengambil keputusan, kita harus bertanya pada diri sendiri, “siapkah kita menanggung resiko?”

About me…

How would you describe yourself? Don’t know? Have no idea? Well, me too. If people asked me how I would describe myself I would have more than five minutes just for thinking. Thinking about what I would say. On the opposite if people asked me to describe my closest friend I would have thousands words to describe her. I don’t need to think. It’s ridiculous I guess. How can we not know ourselves but know about others? I think the funniest thing is because it’s not that we don’t know about ourselves but we are shame to tell others about us. We’re shame admitting ourselves as the persons we are. Sounds confusing? Well, my point is we find it’s difficult to describe ourselves because we are afraid of showing them who we really are. For example if we were lazy person. We would not mention it in our description because we don’t want they know it. We tend to show our good things and bury our bad things. It’s very common.
Now, how would I describe myself? Well, I just have one word for my description. Complicated… Yes I am. I would say that I have a very complicated personalities, I have both devil and angel inside. I can be an angel one day and a devil in the other day. I’m good at pretending. Pretending to be a good listener when I don’t give a damn about their stories. Selfish is what I am, sometimes I put myself on top of everybody else. Who doesn’t? Some people might say they are not selfish, but I don’t buy it. We tend to put ourselves first. May be I am a selfish person but sometimes I can be a humble person too. As far I remember I never show off. I will let them know by themselves not by telling them what I’m able at or what I have. I’m quiet but it doesn’t mean I never talk. I do talk. Telling a story, laughing loudly, I do it too, but only on certain occasion and depend on who’s with me. I’d rather spend my days at home than hanging out with others. I’m introvert and insensitive. I don’t care what they say or think about me as long as I feel secure, I’ll be fine. People say I’m cynical, well I’m not I’m just trying to be realistic. Seeing the world not as it seems but look at something behind it carefully. Not taking for granted for everything is what I’m doing.
Every single day I learn something new. Something new about me. I’m getting to know myself better than before. I find that we were born by knowing nothing and die by knowing everything. It means that we gain our knowledge by living our lives. Including our knowledge about ourselves. As long as I’m still breathing I can describe myself. But…until today that’s all I know about myself and everything…

The hardest thing…

What would be the hardest thing in the world? No, it’s not the job or profession but the thing that we must do. Something like forgiving, forgetting, or else. But forgiving is not the hardest thing for me. It’s something that I can do easily. Don’t believe me? You’d better believe it. The hardest thing is letting it go. I mean it… Letting everything go is not as easy as forgiving. When you lost someone, something, you must deal with the fact you will not be able to see him/he or it anymore. You must live without their present for the rest of your life. Not just that, when you lost an opportunity (whether that is a job or anything) you may regret it. Day by day it still remains on your mind, you keep asking why, why, and why you lost the opportunity. Then you start to blame yourself, punish yourself for everything. When you do that, I would say that you are not letting it go. You don’t accept the fact there is thing that can not be replied. Thing has to be done that way for some reason. You’re not dealing with the reality, in fact your running from it. I do it. Trust me I’ve been in that situation. Honestly, I’m still in that situation now. I’m not letting go everything. I’m running away from the fact that I might not be able to see it anymore to get the second change. I’m punishing myself for everything. Someday I have to let it go, have to wake up and facing it. That day will come but not today…

Not lost just undiscovered…

Why would I use those words? It is a song title by James Morrison, but I’m not going to talk about the song. I don’t even know the lyrics or the song’s meaning. I use these words because I like it. These words represent what I feel about myself, especially what I’m doing. It does mean that I’m lost or missing or something. Well my body is not lost, people can see me, but my soul and my mind, and I don’t know where it is. I don’t know how to say it; I don’t even know how to describe what I feel. I just feel that may be I’m lost… not physically but mentally. But mostly I feel that I am undiscovered. Undiscovered by whom? I don’t know… by them, and by myself. What I mean by undiscovered is not that I’m hiding somewhere and people couldn’t see me. I’m not talking about my physical body, I’m not invisible, and people can see me. I’m talking about my ability, my talent. I’m sure I do have something that I can be proud of. Some talent or ability to do something that can be useful in my work life or my life as a whole. I don’t know. May be I just don’t know where or how to find it. People just don’t see it. It is not lost, it is just undiscovered. Someday it will be discovered by me. I’m still trying to find it. And when the day comes, I’ll show them… that I am discovered. I’ll use it (my ability) to get the perfect job for me. The one suits me most. I’ll find it, and I’ll fulfill my destiny. Hope that day will come…

Judas

One hour before the debate
“How is it?”
“Everything is ready sir”
“Good”
Mr. J smiled at himself. He felt satisfied, tonight is the night, he thought. He was ready for the debate, he was ready to beat his rival. Mr. J imagined himself as the president of the super power country. He would do anything to achieve his dream.
“Sir,”
“Yes, Maxwell”
“I should go now, I’m sure Mr. B is looking for me”
“Go,” said Mr. J.

“Where is Maxwell?”
“Don’t worry sir, he is not here”
“What do you want?” Mr. B asked, looked anxious.
“If they know you’re here, our plan will be in danger,” said Mr. B.
“I am sorry sir, I just want to make sure you know what to do”
“Don’t insult me, I know what to do, now get out of my room before Maxwell come,” said Mr. B.
“Yes sir,” said Damien Bancroft.

One hour after the debate
Maxwell Smith was listening to Mr. B story, but his mind wasn’t there. He was thinking of what he had to do after they arrived at the hotel. They were on the journey to the hotel where Mr. B and his success team stayed in. As Mr. B’s personal assistant, Maxwell was always beside him. He knew all about Mr. B, what he liked, what he disliked. Mr. B trusted him.

Room 302
“It’s a very long day isn’t it Maxwell?” said Mr. B while he sat on the sofa. They were on the hotel room. It was the first class, a very large room with its mini bar. He took of his shoes and relaxed on the sofa. He looked tired. He took the remote and turn on the TV.
“May I get you something to drink sir?” Maxwell asked.
“Yes, please”
Maxwell walked to the mini bar, he took a glass and poured it with water. Then he took something from his blazer. It was a small bottle. He opened the bottle and poured the liquid in the bottle into the water. He waited for a moment until the strange liquid mix with the water.
“You know what Maxwell”
“What sir?” said Maxwell who was standing behind Mr. B
“You can’t trust anybody in this world”
“Is that so, sir?”
“Yes it is”
Maxwell brought the glass in his hand, and then he gave it to Mr. B.
“Thank you” said Mr. B.
Like a thirsty deer, Mr. B drank the water until the glass was empty. Maxwell smiled, his mission was completed. Suddenly, Mr. B touched his neck, he felt something wrong with his neck. He felt like his neck was burning. He asked for help but nothing came out from his mouth. He was in pain, but Maxwell Smith didn’t help him. Then, he stopped breathing.

Room 402
“Sir, there’s a phone call for you”
“Thank you, Damien” said Mr. J to his personal assistant.
Damien Bancroft gave the phone to Mr. J. While Mr. J was talking on the phone, Damien was preparing a drink for Mr. J. It was a cold night, so Damien poured a bottle of wine to a glass. He looked around, he saw nobody, and then he took a small bottle from his pocket. He dropped the liquid into the wine. Having finished talking on the phone, Mr. J sat on the sofa. He took the Times magazine and read it. He was happy because he just heard good news from Maxwell Smith.
“Here sir, this wine could warm you up,” said Damien while he gave a glass of wine to Mr. J.
“Thank you, Damien”
Damien stood beside the sofa, he waited for the reaction of the poison. Nothing happened in the first minute, but the next minute Mr. J felt something. He felt his stomach was burning. He felt like he wanted to throw up. And all of sudden, he throw up, it was blood which came out from his mouth. He couldn’t stop throwing up. He couldn’t ask for help. He stopped throwing up when he stop breathing. Damien watched him died. When he was sure that Mr. J was dead, Damien made a phone call. He called Mr. B to inform the good news. But…, no one answer it.

Sinetron…Oh…Sinetron

Buat orang Indonesia, sinetron pasti sudah bukan barang baru lagi. Sinetron sudah jadi makanan sehari-hari. Pagi, siang, sore, malam, sinetron selalu muncul dimana-mana. Tiap kali menyalakan tv, pasti ada sinetron yang sedang ditayangkan. Muak!!! Itulah yang aku rasain tiap kali menyalakan tv. Pengennya dapat hiburan eh malah dapat kesesatan.
Yap rasanya ngga berlebihan kalau aku bilang sinetron itu menyesatkan. Dari jaman SD sampai S1 ramuan sinetron tetap ngga berubah. Si kaya versus si miskin, perebutan harta warisan, anak hilang, hamil diluar nikah, anak yang tertukar, benci jadi cinta, gadis kaya yang sombong. Pokoknya monoton deh…Ngga kreatif…Entah karena ngga ada ide atau karena menuruti selera pasar. Tapi masak iya orang Indonesia ngga bosen sama yang namanya sinetron yang ceritanya selalu sama dengan pemain yang berbeda bahkan kadang pemainnya pun sama.
Kadang-kadang malah satu orang bisa muncul di dua sinetron yang ditayangkan dalam waktu bersamaan di dua stasiun tv yang berbeda. Parahnya lagi karakter yang dimainkan pun sama. Nah ngomong soal karakter, ada beberapa karakter yang selalu muncul dalam sinetron Indonesia, yaitu: gadis miskin yang baik hati (belakangan ketahuan kalau dia sebenarnya anak orang kaya), gadis kaya yang sombong (belakangan diceritakan kalau dia anak orang miskin), pemuda kaya yang naksir gadis miskin, pemuda baik hati yang naksir tokoh utama, gadis licik yang rela melakukan segala cara demi mendapat sang pujaan hati, ibu baik hati yang sayang keluarga, tante or bude judes yang menentang hubungan tokoh utama, ibu sadis yang ngotot nikahin anaknya sama orang kaya, bapak baik hati yang sayang anak, bapak jahat yang tega jual anaknya, bapak-bapak atau mas-mas berdasi yang ngga jelas kerjanya apa (yang penting pake dasi :P), pembantu rumah tangga yang baik hati suka nolongin majikan, pembantu jahat yang suka ikut-ikutan njahilin tokoh utama, dokter yang bisa diajak berkomplot buat rencana jahat, tokoh utama yang begonya minta ampun karena mau disiksa lahir dan batin (bukannya nglawan malah tetep mbantuin si penyiksa, emang ada orang sebodoh itu?). Wah kalau mau ditulis daftarnya, bisa panjang banget…
Kalau sinetronnya buat remaja ngga jauh beda karakternya biasanya tokoh utama kalau cewek ceroboh trus ngga cantik tapi naksir cowok cakep bin pintar (agak terpengaruh komik Jepang gitu d :P) Kalau tokoh utamanya cowok ngga jauh beda kok, cowok cupu naksir cewek popular. Pokoknya karakter-karakter di sinetron Indonesia itu hitam putih banget. Yang baik ya baik, yang jahat ya jahat banget. Padahal kan ngga ada orang yang bener-bener baik. Udah gitu perbedaan yang ditampilin selalu mencolok yang satu mobilnya BMW seri terbaru yang satu tinggal di gubuk reot. Sengaja dibikin kayak gitu buat menggali konflik yang nantinya bakal jadi jalinan cerita sinetron itu. Padahal ngga perlu nunjukin perbedaan semencolok itu untuk menggali konflik. Kalau jeli dan kreatif perbedaan kecil antar dua karakter pun bisa diolah menjadi konflik (bukannya sok tahu tapi berdasarkan kehidupan nyata aku sering lihat kok perbedaan kecil bisa jadi konflik besar, bahkan pernah mengalaminya sendiri :P).
Selain karakter yang seragam, cerita sinetron juga ngga jauh dari pakem Cinderella story yang berakhir bahagia. Emang sih semua orang mengharapkan akhir yang bahagia tapi ngga ada salahnya juga bikin akhir yang ngga bahagia. Tapi kayaknya kreator belum pede atau belum berani bikin ending yang beda. Kadang malah endingnya ngga masuk akal. Hanya karena sinetron ngga laku terus kreator buru-buru mengakhirinya tanpa peduli jalan cerita sebelumnya. Cerita langsung disederhanakan dengan mengabaikan logika. Kacau deh endingnya…
Bukannya meremehkan atau gimana tapi sinetron Indonesia itu memang tidak dibuat dengan sungguh-sungguh. Bukan cuma logika yang diabaikan, setting, kostum dan perlengkapan pendukung pun ngga diperhatikan. Apa ngga ada riset ya sebelum bikin sinetron? Masak karakternya orang miskin tapi bajunya bermerk, setting beda waktu bertahun-tahun tapi kondisi kehidupan masih sama. Di sinetron kayaknya ngga ada setting waktu, bisa kapan aja tanpa ada perubahan yang signifikan. Ketidaklogisan bukan hanya dari segi setting, kostum, dsbnya tapi juga pemilihan pemain. Pemeran ibu kadang masih berumur belasan. Anak sekolahan berperan jadi eksekutif muda berdasi. Ibu muda umur 20an jadi ibu-ibu umur 40an. Luar biasa aneh dan tidak masuk akal, tapi begitulah adanya
Pemilihan pemeran yang ‘asal’ masih ditambah akting pemain yang buruk. Akting yang berlebihan, terlalu dibuat-buat atau malah terlalu datar. Meski aku bukan kritikus film atau guru seni peran, aku bisa menilai kalau akting mereka itu buruk. Kalau marah selalu identik dengan mata melotot, urat leher keluar dan suara menggelegar. Dari mulai akting yang sok imut, sok polos (bukannya bikin simpati tapi malah bikin emosi :P) hingga akting yang sok ‘cool’ semuanya ngga ada yang beres. Paling sebel kalau lihat akting artis indo yang sok ngga bisa bahasa Indonesia. Masak ngga bisa bahasa Indonesia bisa berperan jadi orang Indonesia? Entahlah apa pertimbangannya.
Dari semua hal buruk yang ada pada sinetron kita, yang paling ngga bisa ditolerir adalah aksi jahat yang ditampilkan. Aksi jahat di sinetron kita udah mencapai tahap yang membahayakan. Anak SD udah diajari bermusuhan, bahkan kadang gara-gara rebutan pacar. Lebih buruk lagi mereka suka menjahati teman, sampai punya niat meracuni, membunuh, melenyapkan nyawa. Sangat memprihatinkan dan menjijikan!!! Bapak menjual anak, teman meracuni teman, pokoknya jahatnya orang jahat deh…Menghilangkan nyawa jadi hal yang umum di sinetron.
Kreator sinetron kadang berdalih kalau cerita mereka menggambarkan kehidupan sehari-hari atau terinspirasi kehidupan sehari-hari. Tapi apa iya masyarakat kita seburuk itu? Aku ngga mau munafik memang banyak orang jahat di Indonesia ini tapi apa yang ditampilkan sinetron masih terlalu berlebihan. Bukannya aku mau munafik dengan menampilkan hal yang baik-baik saja tapi setidaknya tampilkanlah hal-hal yang tidak menyesatkan. Sinetron sama sekali tidak menyampaikan pesan apa pun.
Anehnya dengan semua keburukan sinetron, tetap saja ia mampu membius penonton. Seburuk apapun sinetron itu tetap ada peminatnya. Entah apa yang membuat sinetron begitu diminati di Indonesia. Menurutku tidak ada hal bagus yang bisa kita dapat dari sinetron. Sama sekali tidak menghibur yang ada malah bikin jantungan dan darah tinggi karena emosi lihat aksi jahat, akting, dan kebodohan karakter utama yang mau-maunya disiksa lahir dan batin. Riwayat sinetron dari dulu sampai sekarang tetap menjemukan. Sinetron…Oh…Sinetron kubenci tapi kaunanti…:P

Technology has made the world a better place to live

Technology has played an important role in our lives nowadays. People use technology almost in all aspects of their lives. Technology has become part of our lives. From example, when we wake up then see what time it is we see our clock, clock is the example of technology. Then before we start our daily activity, we take a shower using shower, shower is another example of technology. That just simple example, I can give you more examples but what I want to emphasize is I want to show that we face technology everyday in our lives. We can not deny that we need technology. Before we talk too much about technology, I think it is better for us to know what the meaning of technology is. According to Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary, technology is the application of scientific knowledge, and the methods and materials of applied science. In other word, we can simplify that technology includes two things, the methods and the products.
Electricity is one of the products of technology. We use electricity as our source in doing our activity. For example: we need electricity to turn on the lamp, imagine if there were no electricity, means that no lamp, we would live in the darkness. We use electricity to turn on our telephones, TV, radio, refrigerator, washing-machine, and of course computer. We have to admit that computer nowadays is our second brain, our tool to do our job. Almost every job use computer. Computers also control a lot of things, if there were no computers, we would control manually which would be difficult.
Below, I would like to describe some of the advantages of technology in some aspects.

Technology in transportation makes it easy to move from one place to another place because the invention of car, plane, ship, train, etc. It allows us to be a mobile person, and it saves our time. For example if we want to go to other country, we can use plane, which is take a very short time to travel abroad. It allows us to visit other places in a short time.

Technology in medical field has helped doctors cure their medical patients. Technology helps people live longer, I mean technology can cure some diseases, also can retard the damage of the body. For example, hemodialisa machine can help patients with kidney problem live longer because this machine can retard the damage of the kidney. This machine replaces the kidney by discard the poison in the body. In surgery, now we have the method which is called laparoscopy. This method gives more advantage than the manual surgery. Laparoscopy is different with manual surgery, we do not need long cutlet. In laparoscopy, the surgical operation does not need cutlet, it only needs very small pricks in our body. This prick is very small, only like a dot. It needs three pricks in our body, from these pricks, some kind of tube enters our body, also the camera. And the doctor does the surgery by seeing the monitor. The advantages of this method are low risk, the recovery only need a short time, painless, no scratch.

Technology in working area makes the job easier to be done. As I mentioned earlier that recently almost every job has been controlled by computer. Computer helps people do their job effectively and efficiently.

Technology in education field supports the learning process that can motivate and help the students.

Technology in household helps people do the housework. For example, we do not need to wash manually, but we can use washing machine.

Technology in communication helps people communicate and get in touch with others effectively and efficiently. For example, we can use telephones, cell phones to talk to our relatives that live in different city. By watching television, we know what happens in the world, etc.

Somehow, technology helps us in make things easy to do. Technology makes our lives be much easier to live. By technology, we can do everything easily. We need technology to support our life. I think people start to depend on technology. In other words, we can say that we can not live without technology. And of course technology has made the world a better place to live. Technology helps us to overcome the problem as a human being in the world. Technology gives us the things that we can not get from the nature. But of course we have to have a big responsibility in using technology. We have to be aware of the development of technology. As a human being, we have to remember that we are the creator of technology not the slave of technology. We have to use technology in a good purpose, not to harm others. When we use technology, we have to care about environment, animals, and other people. Do not be greedy, do not use technology as a tool to do crime or evil things. :)