Socializing Jazz in Indonesia

For years and years on end, I’ve been fed up with the culture of pop and folk (not ethnic!) music in our country. It’s not just the melodies and rhythms that I find of such a low quality. The lyrics, in particular and of utmost importance, are completely not educating! They all talk about love affairs, separations, poverty, and materialism. What good values are we handing down to our children by letting them listen to such brainwashing music and watch inappropriate video-clips on television?
Aside from feeling desperate concerning the nation’s future culture, I’ve half given up trying to tell people that the music they’re listening to (and enjoying, too) is major trash! Nobody seems to care about anything aside from making money through selling records to lack-of-understanding majority of people. Our pop-musicians are merchants, and our people are simply consumers. Period!
What saddening trend!
But, the good news is: I’m not the only person concerned.
I was very surprised as finding out that one of my Facebooker friends also eagerly desired the betterment of this nation’s culture in music. Forming a band of his own, he went around the villages, socializing and playing jazz without being paid!
Jazz!
Now, that’s a creative, improvising and intelligent type of music!
The thing that really catches my attention is the willingness of this guy to be proactive. His action may only seem like a drop of water in a vast lake, but even the flaps of a butterfly’s wings can stir up a storm halfway around the globe!
So, there’s no reason to be pessimistic. Just think globally and act locally. Doing all the best we can, with all means we can, though it seems like swimming against the current, is worth the effort, compared to doing nothing at all and sitting at home complaining why the world isn’t getting any better!
Let’s not give in to the culture of pop and folk music that doesn’t build the character of our next generation. Cherish and cultivate good sense of music in our children and feed them with educating values.
I personally support Bambang’s effort in socializing jazz to the low-class society in Indonesia. It’s a very courageous and original idea put into action. Bravo!

Bright Star

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
Its loveliness increases, it will never
Pass into nothingness…”

The above verses are the opening lines of John Keats’ Endymion: A Poetic Romance. Throughout centuries now, Keats is acknowledged as one of the brightest stars in the history of English Poetry.
No doubt, he is my favorite poet.
It’s simply filling my heart with joy to find out that his biography is now filmed and already released in theatres in the US and Europe. Some of my friends in Keats’ fanpage already posted comments on the movie.
The movie, Bright Star, is about the life of the young poet, John Keats (starring Ben Whishaw), his struggle to be accepted in the circle of poets of his time, his love to Fanny Brawne (starring Abbie Cornish), and his tragic, early death at the age of 25.
For those of you who love history, biography and drama, this movie (directed and written by Jane Campion) is worth noted down on your agenda. I personally am looking forward to watching it soon.

Euthanasia: An Act of Mercy, Murder, or Defiance against the Will of God?

A few days ago, on January 12, I wrote down a dilemmatic topic on my Facebook status, “Euthanasia: an act of mercy, murder, or defiance against the will of God?”
The idea came up in my mind after reading my ex-schoolmate’s statuses. Her father’s suffering from lung cancer and has to go through biopsy. The doctors have predicted he’s got less than 1.5 years to live. My friend, struck and shocked by the verdict, poured out her emotions by writing statuses about her father’s latest updates. So we all knew what was happening every single day in their home.
I know how burdensome and painful the ordeal she and her family have to face these days. I, too, have been through the same trial, over and over again: watching the people I loved struggling at the brink of death until the day of their departure. So far I’ve lost my parents, my mother-in-law (my father-in-law had departed over a decade before she did), my uncles and my brother – not to mention witnessing so many others (relatives and friends) dying on hospital beds.
Many of my beloved ones died of terminal diseases. It was a great grievance and burden to see them suffer, to watch the disease prevailing in their gradually weakened bodies. It was pure torture! Sometimes I felt so stricken at watching them writhed in insurmountable pain while deep inside I didn’t want to let them go to gain eternal peace. On one hand, I felt so selfish for keeping them alive, on the other, I realized that taking one’s life a second too soon was murder.
Euthanasia is a means of ending a patient’s suffering when there is no longer hope for survival. Depends on the circumstances, this step is medically ethical and permissible. However, is it ethical and permissible when it comes to conscience’s sake?
A minute after I floored the question, my friend angrily commented, “It’s defiance against the will of God! Murder!”
Another ex-schoolmate commented the same.
Two of my ex-campus mates said they couldn’t give a sure answer before personally undergoing the similar circumstances (I do hope and pray they’ll never undergo such circumstances!). So did one of my teachers.
My ex-high-school classmate and my former teacher at elementary school agreed that the issue was highly dilemmatic. They’ve both got parents who pleaded with them to let the doctors shoot them dead rather than undergoing seemingly-never-ending pain and torture. But the two of them hadn’t had the heart to allow it.
Finally, I asked an old friend of mine (he’s a pastor) to comment on the topic. He, too, agreed that the question was very hard to answer. But at least, he said, euthanasia could be classified into active and passive. Active euthanasia, which means injecting an overdose of morphine to “put the patient to sleep,” is not acceptable to any faith – and best be rejected. On the other hand, passive euthanasia, meaning: refusing the use of medical instruments such as oxygen pumps and its sort, and letting the patient die a normal death, is more tolerable when it comes to conscience’s sake.
I thanked him for the answer, which brought enlightenment to all who had commented on my status. I guess that’s one of the good uses of Facebook: to bring up important discussions concerning daily questions in life and to try to find a solution for the better days ahead.
Have a great day, All!

On Stranger's Tide

Alright, Folks. He's BACK...!!
With a yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum...!
Captain Jack Sparrow is ready to stir up the sea once again in the fourth sequel of Walt Disney's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER'S TIDE.
The movie, starring Johnny Depp as the witty, outrageous, lunatic pirate, will be released in Summer 2011.
Check your calendar and be ready for the next adventure...!

The Loyalty of Dogs

How do we respond as faced to the presence of a dog?
Many people who visit our house shiver as knocking the door and instead of saying hello to me, they would say, “Could you please lock the dogs away?”
One out of a thousand chances, I would hear a guest comments, “What nice pets you have! Here, Boy! Here, Boy!”
It is perhaps due to the fact that most of our people are Moslems, who regard dogs as unclean animals. But for me and my family, dogs are not simply house-guards and pets. They are also our friends, and probably the most loyal of all friends!
Sometimes I am amazed at the loyalty of canines. They can forget their mates, mothers, fathers, pups and friends, but they can never forget their Master/Mistress.
A long time ago when I was a little girl, a friend of my brother moved out of town and gave his dogs to us. Even when they had been living with us for years, there were times when they seemed to be reluctant to obey our commands. Nevertheless, whenever their previous owner came for a visit, they would cling to him and did everything he said. They thought they were on transit in our house, and would never stay for good!
Dogs do not take the idea of changed-ownership. They are faithful to their Master/Mistress till the last breath.
Shouldn’t we feel ashamed at the example these four-legged creatures exemplify?
Most of the time, we humans are not loyal, either to a friend or spouse.
We cheat or lie. We don’t always keep our promises. When times are good we stick around, but when things get bad we leave our friends to their calamities.
Dogs aren’t like that.
A dog doesn’t care whether you’re rich or poor, a king or a beggar, a saint or a scoundrel. You’re his friend, and that’s enough for him.
If you want to learn God’s lesson on faithfulness and loyalty, look up to a dog. You’ll be amazed at how natural the value of loyalty is embedded in their character!

The Answer

Every turn of the year has always brought about meaningful contemplation in our lives. Always, as the year ends and I am faced to the question of evaluating the days that have gone by, certain values emerge in my mind as to remind me of the lessons I’ve learned the past 365(6) days.
Closing 2009, I was blessed by a song I just learned at church. (Being translated) it says, “Father, You grant me what I ask. When I seek, I find. When I knock at Your door, You open. You are my Father, my Eternal Father. Never will You let me walk alone. You are always there for me. You are my Father, my Eternal Father.”
As singing the song, I realize that my Heavenly Father never grants me exactly what I ask of Him. My prayers, hopes and wishes seldom come true precisely the way I want them to. Is God being treacherous to me?
No, definitely not. I find Him to always answer my prayers differently and come up with something almost completely different from what I’ve asked Him (many times, His moves are bewildering). As I receive the answer to my bidding, I learn (sometimes through many, confusing days) that the thing He gives me is way much better than what I ask for.
God always grants me more than I could ask!
He is so good!
In relation to Christmas, we see that the way God deals with me is pretty much the same with the way He dealt with Israel.
Prior to Jesus’ birth, the Israelites were under the yoke of oppression, suffering in the hand of the Romans. They were all waiting in eager expectation for the coming of the Messiah, the Savior who will rescue them from the chain of bondage. Israel was praying for a Deliverer.
In their mind, they imagined their Savior coming in majesty, a Ruler who would overthrow the Roman government and bring everlasting peace to the land. When Jesus came, born an infant wrapped in swaddling cloth in a manger, raised as a carpenter’s son, and preached from town to town on foot (not on horseback), Israel dismissed Him. They couldn’t believe that this Man was actually God incarnate, the promised Messiah.
But God’s mind was ultimately different from the mind of man. He fulfilled His promise not the way man expected Him to. Jesus came to set free not only Israel from the bond of oppression, but (through His death and resurrection) He granted mankind liberty over the bondage of sin and death – which was way much oppressing than any foreign government could’ve been.
God did not grant Israel freedom. He granted freedom for all man. Now, that was unfathomable for any to grasp.
That’s the way God deals with us.
Never try to measure or judge God with our finite mind and understanding! He always provides us a much better answer. All we need to do is to have faith in Him.
This is the lesson I’ve learned through 2009.
Happy New Year and God bless you, All!