A Lesson from Aunt May

Recently I was reading an article on the success story of a businesswoman in a newsletter. She is an amazing fighter, who never gives up on her dreams and sticks to the fight whatever trouble befalls. In the end she is celebrated as one of the most successful women in Asia.

In the interview she emphasizes that her dream doesn't end with this achievement. There are yet more to come, more achievements to prize, more success plans to fulfill.

As putting down the newsletter, I pondered two things.

The first was how her story motivates others to possess the same spirit for struggle and success as she has. The second, was the question whether or not achieving our dream truly gives us pure satisfaction and happiness in the end.

All of us have dreams.

I believe it is our natural goal to make our dreams come true.

But, what if one day they do come true? What will we feel then?

Will we be satisfied, or will our achievement turns us insatiable, desiring more and more things, setting greater dreams and greater goals?

Will we be content and happy? Will our lives be truly meaningful, then?

I suddenly remembered a scene in the movie Spider-Man 2, a lesson Aunt May - Peter Parker's elderly aunt - taught him when he was at the brink of confusion. As Peter was trying to establish his true identity and shifting between the options of remaining as Peter Parker (the naive, ordinary student) or living out his destiny as Spider-Man (the greatly needed hero, loved and respected by the citizens), Aunt May gave him this encouraging words, “I believe there’s a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most – even our dreams.”

I sat down and contemplated.

In the end I realized I'd learned an important lesson.

I thanked God for the success story. And I was glad I kept the above quotation to myself.

Combining the two, I understood that fulfilling our dreams and reaching our goals in life will only bring us contentment and happiness when the things we fight for is not purely dedicated for self-interest, for only in sharing what we've acquired with others can we find true meaning and purpose in living.

Idul Fitri 1430 H

Finally, Ramadhan is over and Idul Fitri has come!

After 30 days of self-evaluation, resisting hunger and thirst, denouncing natural desires and focusing on returning to purity (fitrah), the Moslems all over the world once again celebrate the triumph of Idul Fitri.

A friend of mine made a statement in Facebook earlier on the first week of the fasting month, "Why should we wait for a special season to self-evaluate ourselves and concentrating on doing what is pleasing in the eye of God? Should we not do this every single day of our lives?"

I quite agree. Just as Idul Fitri is a great celebration for the Moslems, Christmas and Easter are of the same value for the Christians. During those holy days we commemorate the birth and death of Christ and the importance of the events in our lives as believers.

But religious festivals are given not only for us to commemorate and celebrate certain events. They are meant to kindle the spirit and importance of the celebrations throughout our lives. As Christians, we need to always remember the reason why Christ was born into this Earth and why He died upon the cross, because that is the essence and core of our faith and entire existence while living in this temporary world.

As it is, Idul Fitri is given so that the Moslems will always remember God's statutes and will for His people to constantly live in purity, always be forgiving, doing good to others and showing mercy to the poor and needy. This is the spirit of Idul Fitri that should be remembered and put into action daily in the lives of the Moslems.

Another year has passed. May the next twelve months we live prudently in constant self-introspection and purity of heart.

Have a wonderful Idul Fitri, my friends...!

PMG Rules!

My husband and I loved Pat Metheny Group. But it was quite some years ago. As we move on with life, we begin liking other kinds of music: impresionnist, contemporary music, chamber orchestra, and loads of others. Jazz comes by once in a while in our music-listening list, and not always PMG.

Yet somehow life turns us around to cherish what we have left behind. It happened as follows: Octavian was introducing different kinds of music to our 2-year-old son, Dharma. He gave him Nat King Cole evergreen songs, Akira Jimbo drum sessions, Mozart Baby Classic records, and Pat Metheny Group albums to listen to. It turns out that our toddler loves the last one more than others.

So we begin giving him Pat Metheny Group videos to watch and search for other - more recent - videos on PMG to add to his music-learning. And to our astonishment, we too start to understand the brilliance we overlooked behind the work of this jazz band. The originality, creativity and fine-touch this group offers their audience is truly remarkable!

There have been changes throughout the years, no doubt. They now have Richard Bona on percussion instead of Armando Marcal, Chuong Vu on trumpet to replace David Blamires and Mark Ledford, and Antonio Sanchez in replacement for Paul Wertico on drums. Aside from these replacements, Pat Metheny (guitar), Lyle Mays (keyboard) and Steve Rodby (bass) maintain their positions since the earliest formation of the group.

But the touch and crystal-like fineness of PMG remains the same throughout decades, despite alteration of personnels. This alone is something worthy of praise, not to mention the even richer quality of their music.

Two-thumbs up for Pat Metheny and his group! They deserve standing ovation in every concert they perform!

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both.

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

(Robert Frost -- 1874-1963)

A New Turn at the End of the Road

It was November 2004, at the brink of Christmas season. Christmas decorations began illuminating the city. Choirs practiced in churches, getting ready for the big event at the end of the year. I knew that very moment that I should be there, rehearsing with church-mates, playing music.

But I wasn’t.

I was far from anything Christmas-like.

It was noon.

I was sitting in the chemist waiting room, waiting for my name to be called. My Mom was just hospitalized for her third CVA (stroke). And I was simply there to buy her medicine. The money I got in the wallet was half the price I had to pay. I planned on buying half the prescription. But I knew that the following day the medicine I bought that day would run out, and at the same time the next day I would have to return and queue at the same waiting room.

Leaning my head against the wall, I felt a very heavy burden suffocating me from within, like tons of steel pressuring.

And I felt cold. Just like any person on earth undergoing depression, this icy cold feeling inside me was so overwhelming.

I saw an old woman being called for her husband’s medicine bill. Her sad countenance and grey hairs showed greater distress than mine. I heard the cashier mumbled some few millions into her face.

I felt colder.

Not so long afterward, I heard a man quarreling with the front officers. His father died the previous night and he wanted to take the corpse home for burial. But the hospital wouldn’t let him. They had determined to keep the body until the family had paid the entire medication expenses in full.

It was over a hundred million…!

My head was swimming.

I sat down by the hospital garden, staring blankly at the trees and flowers and statue in the midst of it. It was as if that very hospital were the centre of all sufferings in the world. So many people in agony, so few of those outside realized or care about it.

I lifted up my head and stared at the sky. I knew God was there. I knew He would hear what I had to say.

So I told Him, “God, if one day You will bless me abundantly, I promise I won’t close my eyes toward the suffering of others.”

I sighed, and stood up. Gently I walked back to my Mom’s ward.

Today, she’s been gone for a year – after so much pain and suffering.

Now her soul is at rest – at last.

I live on, bearing in mind the word I said to my Maker, intending to keep it no matter what. I made a new turn at the end of that year, and every moment of my life since that hour is marked with the same resolution.

I am now taking the road less traveled, and oh…! How it makes all the difference in the world!

Faith and Religion

“I put no stock in religion. By the word ‘religion,’ I have seen the lunacy of fanatics from every denomination be called ‘the will of God.’ Holiness is in the right action and justice on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves. And goodness – what God desires – is in here (your mind) and here (your heart). By what you decide to do everyday, you will be a good man – or not,” said the Benefactor (David Thewlis) to Balian (Orlando Bloom) in the movie Kingdom of Heaven.

Those lines echo in my memories even after years watching the movie. They have been stamped so deep in my mind that somehow some of the conducts I do reflect the same idea. The Benefactor had drawn a demarcation line between faith in God and the religion of man. Most people think that the two are similar, but it is not naturally so.

Faith in the One True God unites all men. Religion divides.

Some would not agree to the above statement.

I do not compel people to nod in agreement. I am simply expressing my opinion.

My argument, in defending the above quotation is this: if God is the Giver of Faith and the Source of all goodness, then wherefore man marks history with centuries of bloodshed – all for the sake of “God’s work” – unless there is something terribly wrong with their perception of “faith in God’s name”? If God is the Creator of all virtues: peace, harmony, love and comfort, why do men slaughter each other for defending what they believe as “uprightness in the sight of God”?

Would God approve all the violence, persecution and assassination committed against His most-honored creation?

I don’t think so.

For over a millennium, the dominating people invaded other lands and conquered other nations, then enforced on them the “religion of God”, to “safe” them from paganism and eternal condemnation. One religion banned another as “pagans,” another religion called others “heathens,” and when it came to reformation of faith (meaning: returning to the truth of God’s Word, as what Martin Luther did when setting up the Protestant Church) the dominating class called the newly born reformers “heretics.” And, which was more, all these “pagans, heathens and heretics” are meant for scourging – in other word: annihilation.

Henceforth came the bloodshed that victimized the lives of millions of men, women and innocent children for centuries on end. And in some parts of the world, the same “scourging” is still at practice up to the present age.

Would God, the Father of Peace, consent to such action?

I don’t think he would.

Wherein lays the problem, then?

In my opinion, it is because people misinterpret between the term “faith” and “religion.” Faith saves our souls from perdition. Religion doesn’t!

You can perform all the religious duties and be as devout as you can be, yet still… if you don’t have faith in God, you won’t be saved from condemnation.

Religion classifies people. One says, “I’m a Protestant,” another says, “I’m a Catholic,” and still another claims, “I’m a Pentecost.” And based on those titles, one calls the others “unbelievers.”

Faith is not similar to the title printed on ID cards!

It talks about union with God even while we are still living on earth. It talks about how we personally know God and the perfect will He has for each of us and all mankind. It is about knowing what the good and perfect will of God is, for us to perform in everyday life. It’s about walking hand-in-hand with the Creator of the Universe, the Source of all virtues, the Father of Peace.

Religions – terminologically – do not emphasize on those things. It is more about how we perform our duties to God, such as praying and reading the Holy Scripture. Some people kneel down when they pray, some don’t. Some people go to church on Sundays, some on Saturdays. Some churches allow ladies to wear trousers to services, some sternly prohibit it. In the province on the west-end of this country, Christian women are obliged to wear jilbab (headcover) even when they are attending services – very unlike the situation in other parts of the world.

Why should the praying positions and church attendances become such a fuss that blocks people from living in harmony? Why do we quarrel so much about how we say things to God while the most important thing is what we are saying to Him?

[I’m not saying anything about other religions here. I might be wrong or misinterpret something I don’t know much (or nothing) about.]

Christianity as we know these days is divided into three major groups: the Catholic, the Protestant, and the Pentecost Church. One differs from another in the way each performs rituals. Nevertheless, the foundation of all is the same: Christ, the Cornerstone on which the Church of God is founded.

When will we wake up and return to our root?

I believe Jesus didn’t come with sword or club to compel people to become His disciples. He came with gentle words and in great power to seek and save those who are lost – those living without faith in the One True God.

Among those who followed Him, there were tax collectors, politicians, religious leaders, prostitutes, merchants and beggars. Jesus didn’t draw any demarcation lines to divide one group of people from another.

Why should we, then?

Maintaining the Ecosystem in Welirang

The dodo was a fascinating creature which once lived in harmony with other animals on this planet. But now their existence is considered a myth. They have become extinct. These days, we can only recognize a dodo from pictures in books.

The extinction of dodo is only one of hundreds of other mistakes man does to nature. It is due to our indifference and exploitation that one by one species of animals and plants begin to grow rare, then endangered, and finally: extinct.

Environmentalists say that we interfere too much with the course of nature. Perhaps they are right. It is therefore important to build national parks where hunting is strictly prohibited by government laws.

Mount Welirang, on which slope my family resides, is the home of the protected Javanese deer. Now, the deer have a natural enemy: the jackals. Unlike the jackals of Asia, Europe and Eurasia, the Javanese jackals more resemble dogs. They’ve got slender body and slim, long shanks that enable them to run swiftly. They’ve got pointed ears and coarse black coat. As most jackals do, the Javanese jackals hunt deer, especially newly-born fawns. Since the deer are protected, rangers would patrol the forest with guns to shoot any jackal that is sighted.

This leads to jackal slaughter! Protection against one species of animals results in the endangerment of another!

Some jackals, realizing their existence is threatened, often sneak into villages and mix-mate with mongrels. These days we often find jackal pups that are born with velvety brown or dotted coat, without pointed ears as most jackals are. And their disposition is much more homely, too.

The uncle of one of my friends (she resides by the forest) had a good idea when he saw these pups. He brought some of them home to Lampung and trained them to become hounds. Warthogs had often gone into people’s farms in Lampung and they needed a great number of hounds to hunt or simply keep the farms safe from warthogs.

The idea worked. Some of the hunted-down Javanese jackals now become hounds and farm keepers in Sumatra. It was a good thing that old man did. Without realizing what he was doing, he had helped maintaining the ecosystem and prevented the extinction of Javanese jackals.

And, which is more, the jackal-mongrel pups turn out to have very sweet disposition that they can adapt quickly to living with humans. They are truly suitable for guarding the house and rid our homes from pests. And they are loyal and very friendly as well!

I know so. I have adopted three jackal-mongrel pups from Welirang Forest. They are the best friends and most obedient pets I have ever had!