Friday, September 26, 2008

LEBARAN TO THANK FOR MAKING IT LESS

Lebaran is coming and that means we are seeing all the ritual of pulang kampung,a moment to realize that Jakarta is a place we can enjoy living.

With all people heading their hometowns, what are we expecting then?

1. Less polluted air.
With more than NEW three hundred cars and bikes everyday, you have the point breathing decently fresh air in Jakarta is a rare luxury. Thank this moment; aren't you glad that most of them now have some place to pollute with the vehicles?

2. Less economy.
Gathering people is economy and as people gather, they create more warteg, more bridal salons, more papers, and in turn, they produce waste. So, with more than two million people checking out of Jakarta, you are bound to see a cleaner Jakarta.

3. Less time to go anywhere.
Lebaran is the only time you know that destination anywhere is actually shorter. Infamous for traffic jam, Jakarta streets have really made you believe that life should be spent more on them and Lebaran allows you to temporarily acknowledge there is more to life than wasting it on the road.


And knowing all this, don't you wish they were not back for good?

Thursday, September 25, 2008

BEGGARS HAVE NO CHOICE

Isn't that twenty one enough in less than a month?

Less than two weeeks ago, we were shocked to learn that twenty one people died in their effort to claim twenty thousand Rupiah alm by one Islamic boarding school somewhere in Pasuruan East Java. This is not the first. We have often heard this thing, what is supposed to prolong life turned into death, and I have never been expecting what happened in Pasuruan would be the last. Today, the same activity turned to be the same disaster; this time it took place somewhere in Lombok.

That we are a nation of poor people is what we can not deny and being poor, it seems, is close to begging. If you walk the street, you would see more and more people doing this job (by the way, is begging a job?). In certain traffic lights you are very likely to see MORE beggars than passers-by.

However, apart from the unfavorable economic condition, I believe strongly that culture has its own share of responsibility for all this. Being poor is what you take,but what you are gonna do about it is what you choose.

Some people find themselves with no access to enjoy quality life and this is like, 'Hey, I deserve what you deserve and you gotta share it with me' and this is what happens; poverty they believe they are entitled to begging.
The other cultural reason is, it is not something to be ashamed of. I live in a community where there are many Arab descendants and they are constantly good givers on Friday (I learned that they believe they earn more pahala when they do on Friday). Having known that their Arab neighbors have this Friday rituals, 'poor' people just pop up out of nowhere, every Friday morning, swarming their houses begging money or whatever. I know these weekly beggars do not live under or on poverty line; they just exploit the situation without any sense of shame attached.


All said, is giving responsible too for this? Hmmm, iya kali ya..

Sunday, September 21, 2008

KILLER FOODS

Three companies producing baby milk and three of them are manifestly guilty of adding melamine, the substance responsible for dysfunction in kidneys and some internal organs. Four babies are dead and hundreds are reported to have been under treatment for the melamine-induced milk.

This is not a case in a point. Some months ago kid toys, also made in China, were recalled from the market as the toys were painted with chemicals endangering anyone, not only toddlers, exposed to them.

Am I too observant or, what, my opinion says we are irrational when cheap things are their options and they seem to have never their lesson. We have been astounded repeatedly by reports that products from China shorten rather than prolong life but we have kept seeing ourselves coming to them as they are packaged in different brands and more affordable prices. Remember those candies and canned canned ready-to-eats?

I think the next time you drop by at the nearest Giant or Carrefour or Hypermarket, you know what NOT to do; for the time being, anything made from the mainland is best not to buy.

Monday, September 1, 2008

PRETENDER OF THE MONTH

Boys,

To observe this month, let's safely stack away your porn DVDs and those skin magazines. It only takes one month before you can go back to this business of pleasure. And since un-subscribing is just a click away, I think you too can temporarily stop the mailing lists delivering those picture perfect scantily clad girls.

And maybe it is time for you NOT to see or even call the one your girlfriend or wife doesn't know or if she might have tried to, you have always successfully convinced her that the one is just a friend or business partner; you know that 'just friend' has been more than a friend and the truth about it must not leave any regret to your spouse she deserves to kill you twice. Remember, it is only a month.

This is the month you show the world you too can be out of this world. Talk and act God.
You have done more than enough the other eleven months; you've sworn and cursed even the smallest thing and in these thirty days that everything that comes out of your mouth is only utterances that make others envy for the religious you. Suffer them more by showing that I can give to the needy; you know people have always been impressed by handsome amount of giving and have never questioned how you got it. As soon as the thirtieth day is over, you can blatantly claim 'payback time you fools'.


Never has appeasing God been this easily sweet...