footprints of life

hari ini ada gempa di sini.  aku pikir ini bukan berita baru, karena ada gempa dimana-mana.  tapi hari ini cukup spesial untukku karena sudah lama aku tidak merasakan gempa.

gempanya cukup lama.  kenapa aku bilang lama?  coba dihitung waktunya, ada berapa detik. 

aku dan muridku sedang duduk dan berbicara.  lalu kami merasakan ada sedikit gempa.  kami diam, tetapi masih duduk saja.  lalu aku merasakan gempa yang cukup keras, dan aku berdiri.  masih ada gempa.  dan aku lihat muridku dan berbicara dengan dia, apakah dia juga merasakan gempa yang sama.  aku lihat wajahnya, ada ekspresi serius.  dan aku pikir-pikir, mungkin sedikit malu kalau pergi ke luar rumah dan orang-orang lain tidak pergi ke luar rumah.  jadi aku duduk lagi.  masih ada gempa, tapi kecil saja…hanya kaki merasa sedikit geli.

nah, lama bukan?  coba hitung, dari duduk, berpikir, berdiri, berpikir, berbicara, lalu duduk lagi, dan berbicara…

gila ya…hanya di Aceh ada gempa seperti ini orang tenang-tenang saja. mungkin karena orang sudah biasa.  coba kalau ada gempa sebesar ini di Yogya, wah, jalan di depan rumahku pasti sudah penuh dengan orang. 

cerita kecil dari Banda Aceh hari ini.  tapi aku masih merasa sedikit panik kadang-kadang, meskipun untuk gengsi…cool man….

Banda Aceh, 4 Agustus 2006

have you ever been in power of some sort? maybe being a leader, in small extent, or even big one?

did you like it? did you enjoy the priviledge of being able to tell people what to do, to have people looking up to you, to have your idea imposed into other people, to have your needs and interest given certain level of importance by other people…did you like it?  well, to be honest, hell you didn’t…of course you did.

have you ever complained about other leaders who treated you unfairly? who often used their power and position to get what they want and manipulate everyone on their path?

did you ever stop to think and look back? and see to your own bewilderment, that you yourself, would do exactly the same things you condemned in other people, and would find zillion of excuses to say that YOU had the reasons to do so…

hmm…? honestly? have you?

i think every leader manipulate other people.  i think every living person is manipulating other people around him or her, well, at least they are trying to. and i think that’s one of the best thing about POWER.  that somehow you have the legitimation to treat other people a certain way, just because you can. full stop.  no further argument.  but as for many other things, i believe that this saying also goes for power and having it…practise makes perfect.

some people are so used to being in power, that they take it for granted, or they already developed manipulative strategy…with style.  this is important, WITH STYLE.  the style that makes other people feel such and such, that :

1. they don’t know you are manipulating them, or
2. they just behave the way you want them to behave, fell that something is just not right, but couldn’t get their hands on what really is going on….cool,ha?

but when people are newly in possession of such a power, oh…wow…you can just see how excited they are…to exercise the power unto other people, to see for themselves that they do (finally) have some power over other people.

but we forget one thing…sometimes…

you sometimes forget that these people you are trying to suppress, are either:

1. the people who are used to being suppressed by other people in power, so they could recognize already that you are new in the business, or…
2. the people who are so used to having their own control of things, so they knew how exactly to put you out of business

so…be careful, don’t get carried away…don’t get too excited.  power is there, but it will not last.

i’m not trying to be philosophical, i just remind you on how important it is to watch your back.  (a thing that sometimes i myself forgot to do…)

you know, people are essentially good…

yeah, right…

as long as they don’t forget that they are supposed to be essentially good.

Banda Aceh, memoar of the last 25 days….