Death

In today’s world, not everyone is ready when it comes to talk about the subject of Death. Death may be the least talked topic in our daily conversations in our life. Then, a question may arise, why do people feel reluctant to talk about death? Honestly, each of us is faced with fear when we begin to talk about the topic of death. We fear death because naturally we don’t accept death as part of our life. We would not choose death, if death were a choice. But, as human beings, we must comprehend that death is an unavoidable part of our existence and our life. As Buddha said “nothing is certain in this world but death itself” so it clear that death is becoming a must thing to face. Since people fear death, people in our community try to taboo the word death itself and thus it becomes a kind of myth that shouldn’t be discussed. In Buddhism, death is a part of human natural processes and it is one of the four noble truths in their belief. In Christianity, death is the payment of our sin as said by Jesus that since human are sinful, death is the payment. Now, we know that we must face death and then another question comes up ‘how should we view death’? It is my and other belief that we must make death one of our closest friends. So that when our time has come to say “welcome or good bye” to death, we will be much readier and stronger. If we see death positively, death can be supporting factors in our life. It teaches us not to waste our life, it can also teach us not to be greedy and arrogant since, if we realize, when the times comes, death will take everything and nothing is left behind. I have read a book on how a person facing his death because he suffered brain cancer. He was a Buddhist and he was also a meditator. In the story, he greeted death like welcoming his beautiful bride. No sadness, no worry since everything is prepared like weeding ceremony. And I think, we all must be like that and be ready like bride or bridegroom in a weeding. It is normal for me if we tell our sons or daughter on what ways we want to bury and what should be done on our corpse. Every one of us must or need to imagine what our body will look like when we are dead, we must visualize that situation and maybe we can learn something from it. Finally, we are aware that death is a birthday gift for us because death’s presence is coming to world when we are born.


Peace and Love

Kristian

Dua Warung Identitas

Kawanku, tentu engkau sudah tahu apa yang disebut warung. Maka sama sepertimu, aku pun tentu sudah mengerti dan hari ini aku ingin menceritakan tentang dua warung yang entah menarik atau tidak untukmu. Maka ijinkanlah aku menulis tentang dua warung itu.
Kawanku, tepat didepan rumah kakaku, dimana aku tinggal, terdapat dua warung makan yang tentu tiap hari sibuk menjual makanan yang mereka masak. Jaraknya tidak lebih dari delapan meter dari rumahku karena hanya dibatasi jalan raya ngabang. Warung pertama yang baru saja memulai usaha warungnya enam bulan lalu adalah milik seorang koko, begitu aku biasa memanggilnya, berasal dari singkawang. Diwarung koko ini kita dan saya terutama biasa membeli mie pangsit, mie goreng dan cap cai serta masakan cina lainya. Menurutku masakan koko ini lumayan enak dan menu paling saya suka adalah mie gorengnya. What a perfect combination of spices!. Pada awalnya koko ini tidak menjual makanan yang dicampur daging babi dan saya paham sekali dari tulisan halal yang terpampang jelas di tempat dia menyimpan dagingya. Sekarang mari kita meilhat pada warung kedua, warung ini menjual nasi uduk yang menurutku enak dan memiliki kekuatan pada sambalnya yang wah sekali dan nasinya lembut karena dikukus atau diuduk(makanya disebut nasi uduk).saya juga sering makan disini dan apalagi abang saya yang dari kampung. Setiap dari kampung abangku selalu makan nasi uduk dan memesan beberapa bungkus untuk keluarganya. Pemilik warung ini namanya Nila, yang tentu aku kenal karena dia berasal dari desa Mungguk tempat dimana aku sekolah SD dulu waktu menumpang ditempat abangku yang jadi mualaf. Nila orangnya baik dan ramah dan dia juga dekat dengan kakaku karena memang kita bertetangga dan kenal. Tentu kedua warung ini masing-masing memilki tempat tersendiri dalam perutku ketika melakukan pertimbangan dalam hal membeli makan tetapi itu bukanlah persoalan yang ingin kamu ketahui kawanku. Maka baiklah kawanku, inilah yang saya ingin katakan. Sekitar dua minggu lalu, entah dirasuki strategis bisnis apa, sikoko mulai menjual menu baru dalam warungnya yaitu nasi campur yang dalamnya terdapat daging babi yang tentu halal bagiku. Tadi malam, aku pergi kewarung koko dan ingin membeli nasi goreng pada mulanya, tetapi karena mie kuningya sudah habis, saya mulai melihat-lihat yang lainya dan rupanya mereka ada menu baru yaitu nasi campur. Tetapi tanpa sengaja aku melihat ada perbedaan tata ruang diantara kedua warung itu sekarang. Tepat diantara warung itu dipasang triplek yang dipaku dengan kuat. Aku mulai binggung kenapa mesti dipisah dan aku bertanya pada kokonya. Menurutnya supaya aroma masakan babinya tidak sampai kewarung ibu Nila maka dibuatlah sekat pembatas itu dan saya tidak tahu atas inisiatif siapa. Mungkin keduanya atau hanya salah satu pihak saja. Sambil makan aku mulai berpikir tentang cara menhadapi perbedaan yang tampak pada tataran kulitnya saja. Tampak dangkal dan tak dewasa. Bukankan udara bisa lewat mana saja dan sebegitu takutkan dan parahkah hal itu. Saya pernah makan dalam masyarakat yang tentu anda dan saya setuju mereka lebih islami. Pada suatu waktu saya dan sekolpok teman makan di Kuching, Serawak Malaysia disebuah warung cina. Disitu terdapat banyak makanan. Pojok makanan diwarung itu dibagi dua yaitu muslim food and non muslim food. Dan saya melihat banyak orang berjilbab yang makan disitu. Mereka tak curiga dengan pemilik warungnya atau takut makan karena penjualnya seorang cina. Karena mereka percaya pada kejujuran sikokinya dan bukankah ketika mereka menipu kita dengan makanan tak halal mereka yang berdosa. Maka menututku disini kita perlu memiliki kedewasaan dalm memandang identitas dan ras seseorng tidak selalu melekat dengan identitas dan ideologi tertentu dan untuk itulah kita perlu melakukan telaah yang dalam tentang sesuatu. Menurutku, hanya keterbukaan kita pada identitas baru yang dapat membuka dan menciptakan pemahaman atau paradigma baru. Hal ini juga berlaku pada cara kita memandang agama yang tak sepham dengan kita. Hanya dengan mempelajari agama tersebut dengan dalam barulah kita paham dan dapat menilai dan memahami dengan objektif. Dan ingat tidak ada yang absolut didunia ini kecauli tuhan, maka jangan mengklaim diri. Dan tentu mempelajari jauh berbeda dengan menganutnya dan itu tentu tidak sama.Maka sampailah pada kesimpulan tentang kedua warung itu. Warung-warung itu adalah dua identitas dan oleh sebab itu warung-warung itu adalah dua warung identitas. Tetapi identitas bagi keduanya tidak dibicarakan tetapi dilakukan.




Peace and Love




Kristian

The Cost of Living in a Small City

Upon graduating from Sanata Dharma University for two years, now I begin thinking of getting a scholarship to pursue a higher level of education. These few weeks, I have been quite intense in looking for information concerning scholarships in the internet. After reading and jotting down the information I got from the net, I finally came to a final conclusion of how to get a scholarship, that is, I must have a valid TOEFL or IELTS score, which in fact, I don’t have at the moment. To get better ideas about IELTS or TOEFL, I decided to ask my former lecturer, Mr. Barli, by emailing him, about the place where I can get such a test. After getting his answer, I know that there are only several cities which hold IELTS regularly; there are Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya, Semarang and some other off sites venues. Having known such cities, I complained within my heart, how on earth can I go to one of these cities just to have IELTS test? If I go to one of the cities, it will take money, energy and time. But my sole problem is the money. Only for the test fee, I have to pay $150 and around $25 additional fee. The fee mentioned has not covered my accommodation, ticket fare and food. I am quite confused now. As far as I know, every scholarship requires its candidates to submit a TOEFL or IELTS test results as its must requirements. Oh…I am in a bad mood. This year, I hope I can save some money to pay the test fee and be able to compete in the scholarship competition. This hardship is a form of risk living in small cities which will cause lack of information and it will lead to stupidity and lost opportunity. Were I rich, such a case would not be a problem. There some things which I hate from small cities; first, they do not have international test centers such as British Council and IALF. Second, small cities have not internet connection but Dial Up connection, which is very slow and sometimes, can make you die of boredom of waiting. My advice is to bring two cups of coffee when browsing the net since its speed is only 56 Kbps. Third, they do not have good newspapers and books. In my city, no bookstores are available, no Kompas is sold. So that is why sometimes, it is boring here.

Peace and Love



Kristian

Father Fritz Budmiger: A True Dedication

Last week, to be exact on Saturday, I went to a ‘retreat’ place called ‘Tabor’ in Bodok, West Borneo, to supervise our students. They were 80 students along with six teachers as their supervisors, including me. I had never been to Tabor before though it is not far. So it was my first visit. Tabor is a catholic retreat place. It was built and is run by a Swiss father. In Tabor, I met such an inspiring person, that is, Father Fritz Budmiger. He is a Swiss catholic priest in the parish called Pusat Damai (Centre of Peace). Seeing what he has done to the community, I could say that he is a great catholic father with wisdom. There are several reasons of why I can call him so. First, Father Fritz has spent half of his life serving the community as the parish pastor for more than thirty years. What a time. How on earth do I know that! I surf the net and found that father Fritz came to Borneo in 1975 with some other Swiss missionaries. It is not easy job for a totally new Swiss guy to work among new people since he is a Swiss. I admire his spirit of ministry. Second, Father Fritz has done tremendous development to the community. He has built a big church, schools from Kindergarten to Senior High School, a retreat place and, boarding houses, and one more thing which I truly admire is that he founded a ‘people own bank’ or Credit Union. In my opinion, His credit union has done such a great help for the local people. It teaches local people how to spend money wisely and it empowers the surrounding. If I am not mistaken, the Lantang Tipo credit union is now run by local people, Father Fritz now is only a board adviser in the credit union. Return to the retreat house, it is a beautifully designed place. The former location of the house was actually the land for cemetery. But Father decided to buy the land and built the land. The retreat house is nice. It has good facilities and hydrant system. Its hydrant system really made me speechless. It seems that Father Fritz really understands how to use technologies in meeting the standard in his native country. He also provides in every corner of his retreat house with trash bins. When I arrived there, and Father Fritz himself showed us our rooms, he looked very busy and in fact, he is never not busy said his master chef. He is so hard-working though freckles in his forehead clearly told us that he is no longer young. He is a sixty year old capuchin. Nowadays, it is like finding needles in the pile of trash in looking for person who has true dedication like Father Fritz. For me, Father Fritz is an example of true dedication and he teaches us to be sincere in our ministry without losing integrity. He is strict and disciplined. Based on some stories from people who have known and lived with him, Father Fritz is also a computer expert, he knows how to make program for the credit union and fix the computer. Father Fritz is also a bookworm; he has provided a lot of books in every retreat room ranging from English books to Indonesian, Dutch, German and Latin books. I read some of the books in the room, one of which is the book written by Leonardo boff which talks about The Prayer of St. Francis. I hope someday I can be like father Fritz Budmiger who dedicates his life to serve the needy community and empower others.

Love



Kristian

Got it late!!!

some of you who have read and bought the book may say that 'You're late Kristian,and we have read the four series of the books'. But it's ok for me. Yesterday, when I was going home from school after browsing the net, I stopped by at a stationary shop to read newspapers as i always do(I don't need to buy newspapers). I directly took the papers hanging in the front part of the shop and sat on a chair for a quite long time. After a few minutes later, i finished reading the papers and started to look for magazines and tabloids in books and magazines section.coincidentelly, I saw a book which I have been looking for several months and i haven't read the book yet. The book is a novel written by a newcomer in Indonesia Literature, that is, Andrea Hirata, his book title is 'Laskar Pelangi'. This book has got a lot of praises and comments from indonesian writers and it is one of the last year best-seller books. I bought the book and its price is 35 thousands rupiah or around $3. I have got it for two days and have read it until page 105. For the moment, i can say the book is superb and nicely written. It contains a lot of methapors and satirical lines concerning the country. the book, to some extent, really inspires me a teacher and a student as well. it teaches me that education is not a choice but a must have thing. It shows me the real meaning of sincerity and i know it will give me much more as i continue reading it. So, Do i get it late!! or What, i don't really give a damn about it. The most important thing is i have got it and it's time to chew it.


Love and Peace


Kristian