The Beginning of our Battle with Ourselves

Assalamu'alaikum.

Dear readers, especially the moslem ones. We have come to the month we have been waiting for. The month where we can experience joy and struggle to be a better person afterwards. It's Ramadhan.

Moslem people welcome it in various ways. Some express their joy by making activities in Masjids. Some express it by sending messages implying their request for apologizes they may make to others. Some do it by posting it in their social-network websites.

But some do it by exploding fireworks.

It happened when people are waiting for the agreement made by Indonesia government to decide whether their moslem people shall do fasting tomorrow or not. When it was decided, the refinery unit of PT Pertamina in Balikpapan blew its whistle as a sign that Ramadhan has been started. Not long ago, not far from the Masjid, there are some people or kids that exploding fireworks. Its sound was shocking. There were not only one explotion. There were repeating numbers of it. It ignited the Masjid caretaker to search for the troublemaker. The search was done in the dark night. Not long after the search, persons in that Masjid could hear the yelling of the caretaker, chasing the troublemaker.

It was a pity, because the troublemaker did it in the moment where there were a lot of jamaah doing the pray. I wonder if they realised what they did. And I believed that the troublemaker is a moslem as well. I wonder which kind of approach the caretaker should make; conservative or parental approach.

These kind of thing have been colouring Indonesia's Ramadhan year by year. I hope we can educate the troublemakers like one I mentioned together.

Can you?

A glimpse in my Granddad's cemetery

This morning, i went to see my granddad's cemetery. It's the green one among others. Placed in such a dense 'population' of cemetery, I managed to get there by carefully passing through each cemetery. When I got there, it’s already been cleaned up and poured with flowers. They smelled nice. Apparently, a member of the family came not very long before me. So I cleaned up the tiny dust and made a pray.

There are things to remember about this granddad. He was an ex-soldier who wasn’t purposed for battle. As my mother told me, he did the errands for his commander. He drove his commander to the office, drove his commander’s wife to the grocery store, took their kids to school, and many other errands he did. When he got into pension period, he continued his life by doing small-scale civil works; repairing roof, fixing electricity networks, even helping in building my parents’ house. He could fix TVs, radios, motorcycle, and even he drove a local transportation car (angkot). As if there is nothing else he couldn’t do.

He had 6 children. He lived poorly but happily. He struggled to give his kids the best education he can. He wanted to do so to make his kids have a better than his. Well, he managed to get his kids to senior high level; one of them got a diploma. Now, his kids are now grown up and having their own family.

As much as I know, he had no idea in giving up. In the age of 60s, he can do things as if he was only 40 or 50. I’m not saying that he was a workaholic, but all he did, he did it sincerely to help people and for his kids.

I had quite a few memories about him. When I went to school from elementary to senior high, sometimes he pick me up to school if my dad was assigned to another city. Sometimes, he came to our house just to have a chat and brought me and my brother nasi goreng. He gave us advices in unique and cheerful ways. He gave me a long one just before getting into college. As I recalled, he never got mad at us, but he did have mad to my other cousins. He loved us in many ways.

One that I remember the most is when he was ill deeply, it was in 2004. During lebaran, he stayed in my house for awhile, just to get better rest than his house. I didn’t think that that was my last time seeing him. Just when I was ready to depart for college after Lebaran vacation, he suddenly cried like a little child. I tried to cheer him up by saying that I believe I can see him next year. I hug him, confident that he would be okay. I left him to get to the airport. In the next few days, I got news that he passed away. I was speechless. There was a regret that I had in my heart. I regret that I didn’t spend time to show my love and respect to him. I regret that I didn’t give him enough time to say goodbye. I can picture his cry back then until now.

Now, I felt those regret as useless thing to feel. I may regret it until now but not as big as I had a few years ago. That is why I want to move on and showing love to parents and grandparents better than before. I want to be prepared to lose someone dear to heart when their time comes.

These writing come in mind every time I go there. I think that what ziarah is for.

Pengalaman Seru Mondar Mandir di kantor

Assalamualaikum.

dear readers, how are you?

We're having some rainy days lately. N I'm typing it under this chill weather, waiting it to stop so I can get swimming...huhuhuhuhu...

Well, yesterday, I had quite a confusing day. There were not so many customers, but we were not in full squad. I felt chaotic. I had no idea that I will have such kind of day. I moved to one place and another in haste. I had too many things in my hand while handling customers' requests or complain. I wasn't focus and calm. I always feel uneasy looking at the customers' eye wandering their impatient look. N yes, I made too many mistakes just by being too hasty and infocus.

And in the end of the day, I made a deep mistake. When a mystery shopper got me, questioning details about sms banking that I haven't really understand about, I gambled on the answers and I lost. They got me. I felt guilty afterward and mumbling about it throughout my explaination to this mystery shopper...very lucky me!! This was added by forgetting my promise to close an account of a soldier who was very dissapointed for waiting too long for it. I felt another guilt....


Lucky me, I can take that as an experience that told me how it felt like to have such situation..Now, I want to make myself clear that I need to be able to focus and calm so I can pick my plan carefully. I also need to rise up the challenge of my surroundings.

I have learnt from yesterday...

What about you?

A

It is easier to be a FOLLOWER than one be FOLLOWED

Dear readers, it has been a while since my last post..

I missed a lot of things. I was lost in myself. Let me whine a little bit, will you?

In the last few days, I was intrigued by the feeling of unable to look at the eyes of some successful persons. There were some kind of force that make me feel they have that inner power to be a successful person. If i may say their names, like Surya Paloh, and Elang (young entrepreneur, winner of Mandiri Young Entrepreneur). To be honest, i was jealous n i hate to look them in the eyes. But, it was my self-ego afterall.

They have put effort, drive that i haven't done up until now. They did what i did not. They bear what I can't.

Now, in the last few days, I have realised a few thing. I found it easier to be a follower than one be followed. I found it easier to be in our own circle that excluded us from what we fear of. Fear of what we may face. Fear of what we may fail in the future. Fear of loses.

We may need to put more drive in ourselves. Sometimes, we may feel tired of doing the unworthy activities or effort easier than those we may feel worthy. Again, emotions play their role more than we may need to achieve in this life. We need emotion to drive us forward, but we may not need it in facing fears.

Are we driven enough to be a great, successful person?

mau pake AC?

SAlah satu tujuan dari kemajuan teknologi adalah untuk membuat hidup manusia lebih nyaman. Manusia selalu menginginkan hal ynag lebih baik dalam hidupnya, oleh karena itu, manusia selalu berinovasi, selalu membuat perubahan menuju hal yang lebih baik, lebih nyaman. SAlah satu teknologi yang dibuat untuk memberikan kenyamanan bagi manusia adalah AC atau Air Conditioner. Sesuai dengan namanya, AC digunakan untuk mengatur temperatur dalam ruangan sehingga manusia dapat merasa lebih nyaman didalamnya. Teknologi yang baik dan pas bagi keinginan manusia, terutama di Indonesia yang suhu lingkungannya sekitar 30 derajat celcius, bahkan dapat mencapai 33 derajat celcius di siang hari pada musim kemarau.

Manusia(terutama di Indonesia), menemukan kenyamanan dalam penggunaan AC. Teknologi ini semakin berkembang seiring waktu. Bahkan mulai bergeser menjadi gaya hidup dan kebutuhan yang mendekati kebutuhan sekunder. Harga perangkat AC yang makin rendah dan begitu pula dengan konsumsi listriknya yang makin efisien membuat makin banyak orang menggunakannya.

Namun, ada sisi buruk yang muncul darinya.

Dari sudut gaya hidup, penggunaan AC di rumah pribadi memberikan kepuasan dan gengsi tersendiri bagi pemilik rumah. Rumah dengan AC menjadi impian mereka yang belum pernah mempunyai AC di rumah tinggal mereka. Yang belum pernah merasakan keadaan rumah ber-AC dibilang 'ndeso', apalagi yang jatuh sakit karena terlalu lama terpapar hawa dingin AC, pasti dibilang 'katrok'. Mereka yang terus-menerus menggunakan AC di hidupnya(rumah, kantor, sekolah, tempat perbelanjaan, mobil, dll) terkadang mengalami kesulitan untuk berada di tempat yang tidak ber-AC. Mereka cepat merasa gerah dan berkeringat banyak yang membuat mereka jauh dari keadaan nyaman.

DAri sudut fungsi, AC sudah bergeser dari alat pembuat nyaman hidup dengan memberikan suhu ruangan yang sejuk menjadi alat pendingin ruangan. Kenapa saya sebut menjadi alat pendingin ruangan, karena ada masyarakat yang merasa kalo belum dingin, bahkan sampai menggigil, lebih baik tidak usah memakai AC. Ada pula yang bilang, bahwa AC harus dioperasikan pada suhu tertentu, kalau tidak akan membuat AC cepat rusak. Contoh, jika di kamar berukuran 3mx4m dipasang AC, namun AC hanya boleh dioperasikan pada 24 derajat celsius, ternyata si anak merasa kedinginan sehingga tidak bisa banyak beraktifitas tanpa mengenakan jaket atau selimut. Belum ada alasan yang jelas yang saya dapatkan mengenai hal ini. Begitu pula ketika suatu ruang kelas dipasang AC central untuk seluruh gedung, ternyata suhu ruangannya diatur pada suhu tertentu sehingga para siswa akhirnya belajar, walau tidak dapat berkonsentrasi penuh karena disibukkan dengan aktifitas menghangatkan badan, bergoyang kesana kemari, menempelkan tangan di ketiak atau ditaruh di bawah pantat, menggosok-gosokkan tangan,dll. Ditambah pula dengan iklan/promosi AC yang menggambarkan bahwa dengan memakai AC, maka kita dapat merasakan sejuk layaknya berada di cuaca salju, dengan berpakaian ala orang Eskimo, bahkan ada pula yang ditambah dengan meminum segelas minuman hangat. Yang terbersit dalam pikiran saya, "Nah lho, diluar panas, tapi jadinya malah minum air hangat karena pakai AC sampai kedinginan. Terus, maunya manusia ini ngerasa hangat, sejuk, panas apa dingin sih??".

Bingung saya sampai sekarang.

Kita pun tahu, bahwa prinsip kerja AC secara mudah adalah memindahkan panas dari dalam ruangan menuju lingkungan. Karena panas di dalam ruangan berkurang, maka suhu ruangan pun menjadi lebih rendah. Jadi, dapat kita simpulkan secara sederhana, bahwa dengan kita membuang panas ke lingkungan(luar ruangan) maka kita membuat suhu ruangan lebih panas. Hal ini dikarenakan makin banyaknya pengguna AC. Coba saja kita berdiri mendekati buangan panas pendingin udara sebuah pusat perbelanjaan modern, bagaimana panas yang dibuang? seberapa panas hasil buangan panas tersebut agar orang-orang dapat berbelanja dengan nyaman? Demikian pula jika kita menggabungkan buangan panas dari AC yang dipakai seluruh warga suatu kompleks perumahan, pasti juga demikian panas, buangan panas dari AC tersebut. Ditambah pula panas yang dihasilkan dari pembangkit listrik yang harus memenuhi kebutuhan listrik penduduk yang makin meningkat. Jadi, bisa dibilang, kita menambahkan panas ke lingkungan karena keinginan kita untuk merasakan hawa sejuk(atau malah hawa dingin??). Mungkin ada penulis lain yang bisa memberikan gambaran mengenai signifikan atau tidaknya buangan panas ini pada kenaikan suhu lingkungan.

Ada beberapa ide yang bisa saya bagi untuk pengguna AC.
> Atur suhu AC pada suhu sedikit dibawah suhu lingkungan, agar buangan panas tidak terlampau banyak.
> Manfaatkan panas buangan AC agar tidak menjadi panas yang sia-sia(contoh: panas AC digunakan untuk mengeringkan sepatu, atau panas yang dikeluarkan AC disalurkan untuk mengeringkan pakaian, dll).
> Jangan sering-sering menggunakan AC jikalau tidak perlu. Maksudnya disini adalah agar kita tidak "kecanduan" memakai AC

Kalau ada ide lain, penulis dengan senang hati menampung dan mendukung. Mari kita dukung perubahan menuju hidup yang lebih baik dengan teknologi yang lebih baik.

Bagaimana dengan anda?