Anak Langit

This afternoon, me and Windi, Rezki, and Bu Ivon went to a community called Anak Langit. It is actually a kind of Foundation, founded by 12 people who are an artist, musician, doctor, translator, etc, 7 years ago. They gathered with one dream: making a free education for poor kids whose parents can' afford formal school. They have a concept that I really like: humanizing humans by creative education. I definitely love the touch. So far, we are stuck at the concept of formal education. That to learn, we must learn from a teacher who can't be criticized. That we have to go to school with text books and uniform, sit in the class with the books and listen to teachers. But, unlike any common concept, the Anak Langit Family treat the children like their family - calling them 'adik' and the children call them 'kakak' or 'mbah'. They train the children to do creative works, they make recycled-robots, paintings, music instruments from recycled stuffs, painting white shoes, and others. They often won competitions of recycling things, music concert, and also invitation to play in a art show. Or, they sell the creative works of their children to expand their family. There is even a boy who joined Silat workshop and now has become a national athlete. The children are also taught by proper Islam that they become so polite.

Going there changed my perspective of them. Before, what in my mind is a dirty place under a fly-over, uneducated children, and other bad-minds of mine. But, as soon as I reached the place, I was shocked. Located on a river bank, I thought that it would be dirty, smell bad, lots of rubbishes. Yet, I was totally mistaken. It was clean, green, and beautiful. I could even find no rubbish besides leaves on the ground. They also put the children artworks around the place - making it more beautiful. Started with just one tree, they now have uncountable trees around the area.

What makes it even more special is that the people. They were just going to do a shalat when we arrived there. So, we waited for around 20 minutes on a gazebo after greeted by Kak Edi, one of the founders. As we waited for them, I looked around the place. It somehow felt very peaceful. The sun at that time was very hot. But, while looking around, I didn't feel hot at all. Instead, under the shadows of the trees and people reciting prayers, what I felt is nothing but peace.I was amazed. Not just me, but also Rezki and Windi. Even when Kak Edi was explaining about Anak Langit, we felt like.. we were nothing compared to them. With all the arrogance we brought before we came in, we've been judging them ONLY based on treasure. We felt superior just because we have more money than them. We was ashamed.

I felt what I never feel before: the true spirit of Indonesians - family and togetherness. I could even feel that they are, strangers, my family.


Okay, here are some pics I took..

...
How can you - a cleric - be so open-minded? I asked
"Look. I know what I believe. It's in my soul. But I constantly tell our people: you should be convinced of the authenticity of what you have, but you must also be humble enough to say that we don't know everything, we must accept that another person may believe something else."
He sighed.
"I'm not being original here, Mitch. Most religions teach us to love our neighbor."

I thought about how much I admired him at that moment. How he never, even in private, even in old age, tried to bully another belief, or bad-mouth someone else's devotion. And I realized I had been a bit of coward on this whole faith thing. I should have been more proud, less intimidated. I shouldn't have bitten my tongue. If the only thing wrong with Moses is that he's not yours; if the only thing wrong with Jesus is that he's not yours; if the only thing wrong with mosques, Lent, chanting, Mecca, Buddha, confession, or reincarnation is that they're not yours - well, maybe the problem is you.

One more question? I asked the Reb.
He nodded.
When someone from another faith says, "God bless you," what do you say?
"I say, "Thank you, and God bless you, too."
Really?
"Why shouldn't I?"
I went to answer and realized I had no answer. No answer at all.

Your Faith, My Faith

Another great message from Have A Little Faith :P

...
"Ask yourself, 'why did God create but one man?" the Reb said, wagging a finger. "Why, if he meant for there to be faiths bickering with each other, didn't he create that from the start? He created trees, right? Not one tree, countless trees. Why not the same with man?
"Because we are all from that one man - and all from that one God. That's the message."
Then why, I asked, is the world so fractured?
"Well, you can look at it this way. Would you want the world to all look alike? No. The genius of life is its variety.
"Even in our own faith, we have questions and answers, interpretations, debates. In Christianity, in Catholicism, in other faiths, the same thing - debates, interpretations. That is the beauty. It's like being a musician. If you found the note, and you kept hitting that note all the time, you would go nuts. It's the blending of the different notes that makes the music."
The music of what?
"Of believing in something bigger than yourself."
But what if someone from another faith won't recognize yours? Or wants you dead for it?
"That is not faith. That is hate." He sighed. "And if you ask me, God sits up there and cries when that happens."


Reading this conversation made me recalled what Albert Einstein once said. He was asked whether science could explain everything in this universe. Einstein answered: "Yes, but it is just as boring as explaining Beethoven's symphony with the physic's theory of pressure and so on."

The beauty of life is that the sensation of knowing something greater than us. The mystery of something Supreme. And what makes it even more wonderful is that we have our own ways in explaining and worshiping that Supreme Being. Yet, despite the diversity of beliefs and religions, we come from one God.

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 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

we worship the same GOD.

Before moving to Serpong, my mom and one of the priest in my church reminded me to be careful because I was about to get into a Catholic school. They warned me that we have different religion, tho with the same God, but they have different ways in worshiping God. Not knowing anything, I just accepted everything they said.

However, the first year in Laurensia was really a great lesson in introducing Catholic to me. I was surprised about the making of a cross before and after a prayer, about Holy Mary prayer, a different kind of Our Father prayer, the ceremony, the congregation, and lots more. We had a mass for every 3-4 months and some religion ceremonies like Ash Wednesday, Easter Day, Christmas Day, and others.

And as I grow up, I make up my own principle and way of thinking.

Last Easter, I went to Santo Laurensius Catholic Church 400 meters away from my house. I've been going there 3 times with my friends. It somehow has been our tradition to go to church together every Easter. Each time I got home, my mom would asked: what did you do there? And warned me about all the differences between Protestant and Catholic. However, I always said, "It doesn't matter, Mom! The hell should we take care about that?! We worship the same God!" And she would argued, "no! You don't understand! We ARE different!"

Then, I would shut my mouth. Better not arguing with her since it would be a waste as she would not understand.

For me, religion is just a status. Well, not an ID-kind-of-status. I mean, I choose to be Protestant because, first, I do believe in Jesus Christ. Second, I believe that all we should worship is God and no else, including Mary, or our ancestors. Third, I believe that once we dead, it is all about heaven and hell and there's nothing else.

BUT, if it is the matter of different co-religions like Catholic, Orthodox, Jew, or even different religions such as Islam, Buddha, or others, I do NOT bother. I don't care if I pray at a Catholic church, or even at a mosque. I don't care if I make a cross before or after a prayer. I don't care if I receive a blessing from a Hajj.

I will follow Buddhists way in not killing animal, even an insect, since I believe it is a good way in respecting God's creatures. I will not bother fasting with other Muslims because I believe it really is good to strain our worldly desires.

I believe we worship the same God. It's that just people have their own way in worshiping God. I believe that God won't care if a Christian kneel like a Muslim to worship him. I believe that God won't care if a Christian pray at a Mosque and so with Muslim praying at a church. What God cares is to whom we worship. He will be angry if worship money, or drugs, or other worldly things.


Why should we bother? STOP prejudices!!

"Saya sadar bahwa saya akan tenggelam. Namun, biarkan saya rela tenggelam, agar rakyat Indonesia dengan demikian tetap bersatu, tidak terpecah belah."

- Ir. Soekarno

"Bukan saja bangsa Indonesia bertuhan, tetapi masing-masing orang Indonesia hendaknya bertuhan Tuhannya sendiri."

- Ir. Soekarno, Lahirnya Pancasila 1 Juni 1945

secret of happiness

I guess I'll really write much about Have A Little Faith in this blog. This is the second wisest book I've ever read after Mitch Albom's first book - Tuesdays With Morrie. I definitely love this book.

So, this time Mitch and his rabbi were talking about happiness after seeing an ad about pill that can cure desperation. Mitch asked his rabbi, the Reb, about what makes a man happy.

...
"Now, that child," he said, " reminds of something our sages taught. When a baby comes into the world, its hands are clenched, right? Like this?"
He made a fist.
"Why? Because a baby, not knowing any better, wants to grab everything, to say, 'The whole world is mine.'
But when an old person dies, how does he do so? With his hands open. Why? Because he has learned the lesson."
What lesson? I asked.
He stretched open his empty fingers.
"We can take nothing with us."

...

So, have solved the secret of happiness?
"I believe so," he said.
Are you going to tell me?
"Yes. Ready?"
Ready.
"Be satisfied."
That's it?
"Be grateful."
That's it?
"For what you have. For the love you receive. And for what God has given you."
That's it?
He looked me in the eye. Then he sighed deeply.
"That's it."


It really is the secret of happiness. We'll never be happy when we always desire more and more while we've had enough already. Be satisfied for small things. Be grateful for anything we have. Then we'll be able to feel really great and happy when we get more than we have - but not craving for more.

The Reb, at that time, was lying in the hospital bed fighting against his lung cancer. Talking with trailing voice and his hand trembling. But, still, he was able to sing to anyone and made them happy even to strangers. In the morning prayer, he always said: "Thank you, Lord, for returning my soul to me."

Kaffee Hausen Sinou

with my friends @Kaffee Hausen Sinou

my cafe au lait

heaven choco waffle

peach french toast

strawberry pancake

I reallyyy loved the place and all the food!! thanks agita for taking us there! :D hahahaha

how do you know God exists?

It is a common question and frequently asked by people yet, so far, never had I found an answer good enough to explain it: "how do you know God exists?" Until I read the conversation of Mitch Albom and his former rabbi in his book - Have A Little Faith.


How do you know God exists?
He stopped. A smile crept across his face.
"An excellent question."
He pressed his fingers into his chin.
And the answer? I said.
"First, make the case against Him.

Okay, I said, taking his challenge. How about this? We live in a world where your genes can be mapped, where your cells can be copied, where your face can be altered. Heck, with surgery, you can go from being a man to being a woman. We have science to tell us of the earth's creation; rocket probes explore the universe. The sun is no longer a mystery. And the moon-which people used to worship? We brought some of it home in a pouch, right?
"Go on," he said.
So why, in such a place, where the once-great mysteries have been solved, does anyone still believe in God or Jesus or Allah or Supreme Being of any kind? Haven't we outgrown it? Isn't it like Pinocchio, the puppet? When he found he could move without his strings, did he still look the same way at Geppetto?

...

He leaned in. "Now. My turn. Look, if you say that science will eventually prove there is no God, on that I must differ. No matter how small they take it back, to a tadpole, to an atom, there is always something they can't explain, something that created it all at the end of the search.
"And no matter how far they try to go the other way-to extend life, play around with genes, clone this, clone that, live to one hundred and fifty-at some point, life is over. And then what happens? When life comes to an end?
I shrugged.
"You see?"
He leaned back. He smiled.
"When you come to the end, that's where God begins."



I think the question is well answered.

There's one subject in my school that I think it is really good, the one that should be applied in each school - Religiosity, especially this year with its teacher, Pak Marcel. It is actually the branch of Catholic Class. Since there are lots of students in my school who are not Catholic, the school try to make it democratic and the result is this class.

It talks about the universal value of religions and morals. I am very happy to be able to take this kind of class since it is very useful that we can discuss and share our thoughts and experiences. Besides, in my mind, Catholic Class is useless and somewhat hypocrite. All it does is memorizing about Church, its sacraments, Bible, and so on. And there's only one thing is true: what the Catholic says. We don't have a chance to argue. So, in the end, it's futile and just pass by in our mind without really absorbing it with our heart.

In the other hand, it is really different with the Religiosity Class, especially this year. We discuss, we share, we learn about universal value and moral. No one is absolutely right or definitely wrong. Well, the first and second year was quite the same like Catholic Class, tho it was still better, since the teachers are Catholic-based. But with Pak Marcel, we were guided to be able to speak up. He himself never judge our opinion is wrong. Nor does he never put himself in the most righteous position. He talks like us, ordinary person doing the same sins and mistakes. Unlike those of Catholic-based teacher who act like they are holy persons and we are sinners.

I always loved the discussions and shares. We talked about how we see homosexuals, prostitution, injustice, poor people, even we talked about porn stuffs and masturbation. He is open-minded and not judgmental.

There, we learn how we should be an open-minded person in this life. Accepting new things and opinions and approve or decline it without judging whether or not it is right.

I learn that it is the best way in educating and build up people's mental and character to accept diversity, moreover for Indonesia-kind of country which is ultimately diverse.

Now, for I've been schooling for 15 years and it has ended.. a question pops up in my mind: what did I go to school for?

For 15 years of my school, I just found the answer in the last year which is this year. Well, it is my own answer based on my characteristic and way of thinking.


For almost 15 years I studied hard, struggling for good grades and trying to be an outstanding student. I memorized all the lessons, practiced, and worked hard on every test. All are for good grades. But, now, I found it useless and it is not the real goal of studying at school.

Grade, which is more than 90% of students, teachers, and parents are looking for, doesn't matter. What matters is how we, with a good morale, behavior, characteristic, and intelligently survive in this harsh world and how we make a better life for ourselves and, especially, others who are not as lucky as we are. That's why we go to school; to gather knowledge and experience as much as possible and becoming a critical-thinking and ethical person. We also built relationships and friendships for our future. To find true friends that will help and support us later when we find ourselves struggling hardly for our life.

So, in the end, what for is chasing for grades by memorizing lessons and so on if later we will forget it? It's better that we can understand the whole thing of it well (understand well doesn't always mean getting good scores at tests) and apply it in our life later. I mean, it feels really great when we can understand lots of things happening in the world. For example, Indonesia is intersected by 3 major plates that it commonly shocked by earthquakes and sometimes crashed by Tsunami. Lots of Indonesians are afraid to go to beaches because of that. But it doesn't mean that every part of Indonesia has a chance to be badly damaged by earthquakes and Tsunami. Studying geography makes me understand that parts like East Sumatra and Borneo and north of Java are safe from it. Why do we have to be fearful? So, it is the understanding of the concept of lessons that we got is what will be used in life.

That's why I don't really care with the National Exam's questions. All I want to know is the reasons why recent things could happen.


Well, it is just my point of view.

For 15 years I've been going to school, from the kindergarten to the 12th grade of high school and today is the last day of my high school. I spent the last 10 years of it in Santa Laurensia, the school which, for me, is very great and one of the best in Indonesia. Well, most of my friends said that this school sucks, hell, hot (since there's no air-conditioner), and so on. But, for me, who comes from small city like Lampung, I am very grateful to be able to study there.

It is the school that opens my mind and knowledge to the world. I wouldn't have been able to be a critical person, a sensible, and environmentally and socially aware if I were still in Lampung. Maybe, if I hadn't moved to Jakarta, I might have been a typical ignorant teenager who only wants fun instead of hardships and struggles. And it is the real school unlike any other school whom students are easy to miss classes, teachers don't care when their students break rules, relatively easy assignments and tests, and ignorant teachers who don't even care with their class. I mean, Santa Laurensia really makes up my characteristic into the way I am today.

There are lots of things that Santa Laurensia school has that others don't. Like, lack of seniority, study tours (tho other schools start doing it, but we're one of the pioneers :P), projects and experiments, outdoor activities, beautiful trees, vast open-field, and so on.


It really makes me sad to leave this school soon. I'll miss it!!