My Story Pt. III

I will never, ever forget November 26th 2009.

The day I met her.

By God, she looked like an angel.

She was different.

I saw it in her eyes.

I knew it in my mind.

I felt it in my heart.

Being a reluctant participant in my faculty's event, I did not expect to meet somebody like her. I only went to the event because I got shanghaied into a deal. A promise is a promise, my rule is not to break them.

Little I knew, that when I keep my promise, He kept His.

I prayed to know her better, and God put us in the same group.

I prayed for His "signs" and she came out of her room.

I prayed for His validation, and she approached me, barely knew me at all, and sat beside me, all alone, just the two of us, a moment that made my heart race.

It was like magic and just really too good to be true, that I really couldn't speak properly. When I saw her eyes, words won't come out. When they do came out, it's really unorganized, and I just end up making her confused. So, I just spent time looking at her from a distance.

I was a playboy. At least, many of my friends say that about me. I dated a lot. I went out with girls. I know the words I should say, how I should walk, how I'd woo them.

I was a Christian, but in dating matters, I was holding the pen for my own love story.

It's all lost when I came face to face with her.

He stripped it from me, because I know she was and still is His and His only.

So, after the event, we part ways, I was hoping to keep contact with her. I "used" Him, that if we really did meant together, He would be the one to make it "easy".

With a frail faith like mine, it was just a matter of time before I got tired of waiting.

I should have listened to my heart and stayed faithful.

I got tired of waiting.

I forgot everything about her.

I met someone else.

I started a serious relationship with her instead, and no matter how hard or willing I try to make it work, things did not work out.

In our final days, I felt that it's just not right.

Still coping up with the loss, one night, I read Isaiah 30:21. "If you wander off the road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you saying, "Here is the road. Follow it.""

Right there and then, I knew that He'd place me back to where it started.

Lord, I have no problem about NOT getting married. You made me here to fulfill a certain mission, and it is certainly a mission greater than getting married. I was a fool for not following my heart, I was wayward for holding "the pen" for my love story.

If she really is from You, help me and give me the chance to make myself worthy of her love.

Make me more like You.

Write my story the way You want it.

...and if you are reading this, I want you to know that I could find a thousand of reasons as to why I like you, like;

1. You look like an angel (never seen any of them, but it's normal if I like you better than them =p)

2. You smile like a bunny.

3. We like too many of the same songs. We sang together in traffic jams.

4. You made me love myself more, that it's okay being me.

5. We are cholerics !

6. You are the first to actually succeed to calm me down when I was... being choleric.

7. You told me not to worry about life...

...I'm sure I can find the other 993, but the biggest reason of them all, is that you bring me closer and closer to Him. I sure hope I'm doing the same to you.

When the time is right, I will pop the question. Be honest. I can take rejections. Don't put yourself in a position where you would be unhappy. It's the last thing I want you to feel.

Until then, I will always pray for you, day and night. And I still want to know you better. =)

My generation : Choose.

This is one of those notes where I let everybody know what I have in mind about things that happened recently, things I observed, and a message I want to convey to everyone who reads this.

For every young people out there.

Tempat tinggal yang kita tinggali sekarang membutuhkan kita.

Indonesia.

To avoid being so overly nationalistic -if those two sentence haven't made it already- I''m going to try and make it less.... emotional.

As we all know, Steve Jobs passed away about 2 weeks ago. I never know the guy, I never owned an Apple product, but I do know how Steve changed the world, with his company AND his philosophy.

I linked a video about his Stanford Commencement speech in my wall, I really suggest you check it out.

The thing I never know about him, was that he really was a "crazier" man than I learned.

Tidak mudah memutuskan untuk mengikuti kata hati dan melakukan hal-hal yang tidak lazim dilakukan, seperti ikut kelas kaligrafi disaat kita tahu bahwa hasil ekonomi yang didapat dari kelas tersebut mungkin tidak ada.

He did that because he followed his heart. Tetapi karena kelas kaligrafi tersebut, Apple memiliki font Sans Serif yang pertamakali muncul di sebuah PC.

The rest of the story, check out the full speech.

I've always had this naive idea that one person can change the world.. and like Steve, there are a few people who I believed has changed the world.

For the obvious examples; Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, David when he fought Goliath.

For the more "modern" examples.. Steve Jobs, and try and google "Stanislav Petrov".

All these are prime examples of how one person can change -or NOT change- the world.

Now, this is the part where I say something about my life.

Banyak dari kalian udah tau kemana akan gw lanjut setelah kuliah. It's not a decision of logic and reasoning, but one of passion and heart. I HATE CORRUPTION. I think it brings more harm than just financial loss.

It truly is corrupting every aspect of our lives in this country, that we unknowingly take part in it.

I see it everywhere. Temen2 yang nyontek, motor2 yang ga bisa nunggu 2 detik sampe lampu ijo, bus bus yang berhenti sembarangan dan bikin macet -- and to that part, PENUMPANG-PENUMPANG BIS YANG NGGA NUNGGU DI HALTE BUS DAN BERHENTIIN BUS SEMBARANGAN, yeah, sadarlah, kalian secara ga langsung bikin macet.

Oknum polisi yang memberi opsi "damai", anggota DPR dari partai yang sangat mengusung semangat agama yang nonton film porno di iPad yang dia beli dari gajinya yang berasal dari pajak 10% Pepsi kaleng gw.

Corrupted.

Mental "selama gak ada yang liat, gapapah" ini bener2 ngga banget buat gw. Pernah gw marahin nyokap karena dia gak pake seatbelt, trus stlah gw ingetin malah ngejawab "ah, ga da polisi". Ketok2 meja yah, suatu hari nyokap gw ga pake seatbelt karena polisi lagi demo, and something bad happen to her, I lose someone loh mum. (I know she'll read this note)

It's all small action, but try and see the big picture of the consequences it bring.

Yakin gw banyak dari kita yang udah pernah nyogok pak polisi.. I did it 5 times. Nyontek ? SMA, Mandarin, uh, satu kelas buka buku XD

Even I did it.. Tapi ketika makin lama makin ga damai di dalem ati gw, I stopped doing that.

I could go on and on and on about corruption but I think you got the point.

Next, this country.

Indonesia.

Who wants to move out from this awful country ? I know I do.

Jujurlah, kalo bisa milih mau dilahirin dimana or tinggal dimana, Indonesia could be the 100th choice.

Kalo bisa milih gw mau tinggal di Jepang.

Macet di Jakarta, panas dimanadimana, tsunami-prone, gempa bumi when I was watching The Hangover in the cinema. Masalah hukum KUHP (kasiuanghabisperkara), pokoe sgalanya lbih mudah dengan duit disini, which means if you are poor, you're screwed.

Ngurus surat2 aja dipuyengin. Dari loket 1, ke loket 2, abis itu ke loket 1 lagi, abis itu ke loket 3, abis itu.... bingung.

Yang ngaku2 wakil rakyat, yang ngaku2 wakilin gw di Senayan SAAT INI lebih doyan ngomongin Pemilu taun 2014 daripada ngurus situasi di Papua, Presiden kerjanya nyanyi prihatin.

That's what makes us very special.

My friends, we are given the chance to change all that.

Think about it.

6 billion people in the world, 200 states, and God -or something like God, for you nonbelievers- puts us to be born right HERE. Indonesia.

God --or Somebody- believes us enough to make something good out of this country.

Chance- or destiny, or fate- puts us here, to matter.

I joked with my sister, yang sekarang lagi kerja di Singapura, bahwa suatu saat nanti gw akan buat Indonesia jadi mirip Singapura, or maybe even better. Joked, but I kinda make it my mission now, however stupid and unreal it is.

It's unreal as a person who lead a nation to eventually drive out a colony, as unreal as a woman who has nothing but still gave everything to every person she could care for, it's stupid as one man erasing a racial law.

It's unreal as ONE man stopping the third world war, and stupid as one man, quitting school and taking caligraphy classes and end up selling computers that changed the world.

Wait. It all really happened.

I pray to God that one day, I will be able to eradicate corruption, in every sense.

If you think I'm a selfless man, you're dead wrong.

My motivations are as selfish as any other selfish human being.

GUE gak mau lagi liat ada anak jalanan tidur DIATAS semak-semak di trotoar PasBar. (Try to wake up and go jogging on Gunung Sahari at 4.30 in the morning if you don't believe me) yang sebenernya dengan dana 100T something itu yang katanya di korupsi taun ini MUNGKIN bisa tidur di bangunan singgah dari dana tersebut.

GUE males menjawab godaan pak polisi untuk berdamai, I really wish he'd just do his job, give me a ticket for my own stupidity and be over with it.

Last, but not least, I really don't want Nico, Vian, River and Rain my little brothers and sister to finally grow up and be troubled with corruption. This thing is been going on too f'n long. Sayang banget kalo mereka harus mengerjakan apa yang gw kerjakan sekarang di masa depan. I mean, they should have other things to deal with, like making this country her first space shuttle, or inventing a time machine or creating the world's best.... something.

Curhat sedikit, orang-orang yg tau gw mau kemana mayoritas terpana akan keputusan gw, they basically said "we need more people like you." Gw hanya terdiam dan berkata dalam pikiran gw, "well, I need you."

One man can change the world, but I really think it'd be easier if there were two.... or more.

Really, you don't have to jump in into the anti-corruption thing, JUST DO WHAT YOU DO, AND DO IT YOUR ABSOLUTE BEST, FOR THIS COUNTRY, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, FOR YOURSELF.If you're an insurance agent, be the best Indonesian-made insurance agent in the world. If you're a lawyer, be the best lawyer in the universe, make criminals pay for the crimes they did by making them pay your US$500/an hour bill. Hell, if you're a just going to be a simple housewife, be the best, the most loved mother of all time !

I've been drafting this note for a couple weeks now, I'm trying to post it on Sumpah Pemuda, I failed by 3 hours.. Still, I did it because this post is my absolute best.

So, friends, colleagues.. there are more important things to take care of than your BlackBerry, your Prada bags, or your future Maserati. I for one will not enjoy those things if I know that 10 years from now, a beggar will ask me for chump change while I'm driving my Lamborghini. I think I'd sell my Lambo for sneakers to jog. It really opened my eyes to see the actual condition of the place I live in.

Hari ini, para penguasa dan orang-orang Senayan hanya berfokus kepada kekuasaan dan citra, tanpa pernah mereka ngeliat apa yang gw liat saat gw jogging pagi buta.

They say the future is on our hands, it's true.

It all came down to what you choose.

I need your help. Sombong banget gw mikir bisa memperbaiki negara ini sendirian.

That kid, sleeping on top of a bush, needs our help.

Listen to your heart.

Choose well.

My Story. Pt. I

Hi, My name is Alexander Bobby Wijaya, in case you didn't know my full name.

Name that my parents gave me, so remember if you're making fun of someone's name in a mean spirit, you're disrespecting the people who gave them.

I write these series of notes because there's been an event I went through, and I found that most people are getting the wrong impression of what I'm trying to achieve. I feel the need to explain myself.

Why do I go and have the trouble of doing this ? Because even though we should NOT judge a book by its cover, some people really does it. I knew someone, who literally judged a book by its cover. Other than this, I just want to share, and I hope from these notes you can get something positive, or at least, entertained.

So, first thing you have to know about me. I consider myself an equalizer. - or I often act like one

Ketika banyak orang overjoyed karena terjadi sesuatu, I smiled once, and pull them all back to the ground. It's not fun, I didn't enjoy it, tapi ketika kita terlalu bergembira, pada banyak waktu akan membuat kita menjadi lengah, bercanda terlalu "asik", dan berakhir terluka. Ketika kita terlalu bergembira, we let our defenses down, dan gw sendiri mengalami beberapa keadaan "overjoyed" yang berakhir ga enak.

And because of this, a LOT of people say that "gw ga asik". Fair comment. To a certain extent, it's true.

Sebaliknya, ketika orang-orang bersedih, keadaan lagi ga enak, or fairly awkward situation where most people in the room is dead silent, I turn the fun button. You may punish yourselves severely for the things that had happened, but change will happen if you have a bit of hope inside. I try to instill that hope.

And because of this, a LOT MORE people say "ah, you're the best", "wow, you really cared for me", "you're the most optimistic person I've ever known." etc. I don't want to go overboard.

I've grown to say the things I need to say, even though people may not like it, to equalize conditions.

Let me take you back to my childhood.

When I was on 2nd grade, there was this classic school bully. His name was Samuel. I remembered him because, because even though he was such an assh*le, his actions led me to stand up and made me a better man.

Gw inget bagaimana uang jajan gw diambil paksa, bagaimana tiap hari gw takut ke St. Paula utk sekolah karena dia sama sekali ga takut main fisik (He was the boy with the biggest body, I was -and still am- a fairly small, skinny kid) Gw masih inget bagaimana dia selalu sukses bikin gw nangis karena, well, he's a bully.

I befriended this chubby, geeky, but really sweet girl. Honestly, I forgot her name. But thanks to Samuel, I can never forgot her.

I was pretty close with the girl, one time, I even said to my dad that I feel like she's a big sister to me. Whenever I cried, she was there calming me down. Whenever big Sam took away my break time snack, she gave me some candies that she brought from home.

One day, after school, Samuel decided to went overboard and bullied a girl, you guessed it, he messed her up.

The girl who I a considered my big sister. He called her a "fat pig", and well, physically hurt her.

She cried and cried, and I was there, watching from a distance.

When I walk towards her, trying to do stuff she'd always do when I cried, she gave me the look, the eyes, that til' this very day I can never forget. A look that says "why didn't you do something ?!" She got up wiped the tears herself, and went home before I even got the chance to say anything. The next day, and the day afterwards, she spoke to me only if she really needed to.

From that day, an anger began to grow inside me.

So, we got to 3rd grade, she went to another school. I was still at St.Paula, feeling lonelier than I've ever been.

Big Sam was still the bully that he is, though I cry less often because I was getting used to it.

Then one lonely day, after school, I was thinking about her and big Sam decided to pull my ear.

Her eyes, that look, glanced in my mind and I screamed and shoved him as hard as I could to a cupboard in the class, it broke the hinges.

Next day, big Sam got his parents to came down to the school. And I was never the same. (Hey, at least I never had my parents came over to talk for me getting bullied)

Years passed, I went back to St. Caroline, dan sejak saat itu setiap kali ada seorang bully di sekolah gangguin seseorang, gw selalu bertindak. Mungkin tidak selalu dengan kekuatan fisik gw, karena tetep gw cowo paling mungil, tapi sering gw sprint ke ruang guru en ngadu sejujur-jujurnya kalo menjadi saksi terjadinya bullying.

I consider myself a hero. Even though, the truth is I got arrogant, I wasn't.

I became a bully's bully. Percayalah, SD-SMP banyak temen2 yang ngajak gw ribut. (So now you know why I took TaeKwonDo and Karate back then) Either karena gw bales perkataan mereka yang nyakitin dengan perkataan yang lebih menyakitkan, atau karena gw arogan.

Percayalah, I got very arrogant to a point that my older brothers humbled me. Both of them kicked my ass, literally.

I learned that I have to use this "ability" to a certain, select boys with the specific intent to hurt others.

So now you know why I'm not very gentle to, well, male. As weird as it sounds.

And obviously why sometimes I seemed to be a playboy (or kata mantan gw, menel =p) because I try to be very gentle, nice and protective to every female I know.

The Best Selling Book in the world (and most shop-lifted too) tells us to treat younger women as our little sisters, and the older women as mothers, that's what I'm doing.

It is my mentality to bully a bully, especially if the victim's defenseless, more especially, if a guy tries to hurt a girl, physically or mentally.

And most especially, if someone tries to hurt the ones I love.

Believe me, I had a nunchaku ready when three tough guys claiming to be cops used some nasty words on my mom.

Believe me, I was ready to punch a guy who first threatened to punch my aunt.

As "evil" as I am, I'm as nice as Barney (the purple dinosaur, not the legen-waitforit-dary one) to kids, as gentle as I can be towards the opposite sex. As much as I love to fight, I have a tender side I'm not cool enough to hide, ask my mother, she and I argued when on my 21st birthday I wanted to do something "big", and wanted to be a liver donor for baby Bilqis. True story. Ask her.

I am an equalizer.

The misfortunes I had when I was a kid, made me an equalizer.

I hate bullies and people who hurt others only for their amusement, I hate their conducts with a passion.

I am a bully's bully.

Of course, I grew up. I let go TKD and Karate because it only helped fueling my aggresiveness. I took up Aikido because I learned that it teaches purely self defense techniques for self preservation rather than teaching me some striking or punching, or kicking techniques to defend (see the irony ?), and I recently started to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu cuz' I think it's effective for small guys like myself (not to mention it's AWESOMELY COOL)

Dan tiap kali ada temen yang dikata2in karena yang ngata2in cuma mau ngata2in, I do my best to tell the victim otherwise. Bahkan kadang gw jawabin balik tuh preman kampung, kalo dia sudah sangat amat keterlaluan tentunya.

The equalizer folks.

*bows, exit stage.*

Better Than You

Posted on March 15, 2006 by Raven at Raven Rants

You see them everywhere you go. The people that blaze through four way stops, the jerks that cut in line at the movie theater, the morons that intentionally take up two parking spaces at the mall and the fools who thrash around their lives without a care for what impact they might have on others.

While everyone makes mistakes and, on a planet with six billion people, we're going to adversely affect those around us, some among us take it to a whole new level. They are either so negligent, or even malicious, that their acts are a conscious disregard for others. This goes beyond a lack of compassion or the absence of empathy and shuns all convictions and morals aside.

When you see these people, take a moment to look into their eyes. You'll see something truly unique. When you stare down into the pit of their souls, you'll see that they believe they're better than you. They seem themselves as a superior life form and yourself, along with those around you, are just insects waiting to be stomped.

With this form of imagined superiority comes a sense of entitlement, and that is where things go wrong. These people not only believe that they are better than the world, but that the world owes them something. Be it the color of their skin, the way they grew up, the money in their pocket or just something inside them, they feel that they are entitled to better treatment and they will take it if necessary.

That sense of entitlement is what leads to their downfall. Nature, as luck would have it, doesn't possess and entitlement clause. Those who think that they are owed something might be able to take it from time to time, but will never really be able to possess it. Those who believe they deserve something, for no other reason than who they are, are incapable of working for it and earning it.

And in there lies the bitter truth. All men are created equal, but they don't always stay that way. Some of us work hard, achieve great things and make something of our lives. Those who do that, for the most part at least, learn humility and invest themselves emotionally into ideas of justice and equality.

Others feel entitled; they do nothing, achieve nothing and, instead, leech off society. These are the ones who feel superior, the ones who achieve the least, offer nothing to the world and, instead, only flex their supposed superiority by taking that which does not belong to them.

In the end, it's their very sense of superiority that prevents them, not just from becoming better people, but from becoming anything at all. They can't plow the fields in the kingdom they believe themselves to rule, thus, they never make anything grow.

Their accomplishments are fantasies and society, let alone nature, will not favor these fools. They are doomed by their own delusions and will feel the wrath soon.

So when wronged in such a manner, try to let it go. If it was an honest mistake, it will not be repeated and, if it's someone taking what does not belong to them through a feeling of entitlement, they will feel their own demise soon enough.

For nature is cruel to those who don't earn their keep and nothing you can do will ever be able to compete with the very forces that keep evolution going.

This is the first time I've ever posted someone else's post in my blog. I like it that much.

One at a Time.

Couple of months ago, when I was looking for the month's edition of Reader Digest Asia (read them! They're lifesavers =p) in PlaNgi, I overheard a mother telling her daughter to learn how to read before she wants to buy any books. Honestly, it cracked a smile. You know, when I was a child, my parents used to tell me to learn to do something before actually doing what I wanted to do -- I believe the readers here, too were told. Whenever that happens I usually sigh a little in the back, denying all the things they say, believing that I am capable to do it.

When I was a little kid, I knew everything about the world, the more I grow up, the more I have no knowledge about it.

One example that happened in recent times, was about parking the family's car. I really only have a couple lessons in parking, I am not good at it. But, meh, I CAN DO EVERYTHING !!! XD

So took the car away several times, parked them good everytime. I think it was the sixth time when I really screw it up. The ledge towards my house's garage is to steep, at times I found it a bit difficult, and in my defense, there was a car honking to pass through, and so I think "I'd do this in one sweep !".

The ending, I smashed the passenger's side of the car to the garage door.

Don't ask me about how I talked it through with my mum, it ain't beautiful. But since I am a lawyer-will-be, I talked it through anyway. =p

Lesson learned, even in my 20s.

We all want to know everything, in order to be "more". It's human nature to be so.

We want more.

We want everything.

An ambitious friend wrote something on her note once, I accidentally got a glimpse of it.

It reads "you can have everything, you just can't have everything at once."

Guess she learned her lesson.

So, take it from me. Take it one at a time, folks. ;)

Mr.Tire-Patcher

About 2 months ago, when I was riding home from my study, the rear tire of my bike suddenly lost its pressure. I was in the middle of Sudirman Street when it happened, really thought I was screwed, cuz' on a road this "elite", there wouldn't be any tire fixers around.. Or so I thought to myself.

I start walking my bike until the furthest intersection, and whaddya know ? There's one sitting by on the sidewalk. So, I ask him to check it. I was hoping that it would only be a loss of pressure, but no, a spike came piercing through. The tires tube was already been patched a couple of times, and there's a thread of steel that came out of the tire itself (stupid Honda QC, if I'd been a little more enthusiast I'd ask for a new tire...)

The guy was grumpy at first, I really wouldn't mess around, he LOOKS like he can kill. To my surprise he was supportive about the problem, he even pulled the spike out (which was really in a hard place, I couldn't reach it with even my tiny fingers). Well, in the event of ice-breaking, I tried to chat with him. Again, grumpy at first, he'd answer uninterested, without looking at me. But as we were both waiting on the side for my tire to be ready, he began to be friendlier. He'd ask where I from, and so on and so forth. Then I ask all about him.

It was heartbreaking really. He told me that he doesn't have a home here, that he stayed in a room rented for Rp 300.000, a month --he'd make a maximum of Rp 20.000, a day. That the ojek riders on the intersection would make him patch without actually paying it. All of the depressing stuff.

You know, you could help so much to someone just by listening to their problems.

As we chatted, I start asking about his family, and believe me when I say, it's the first smile that came out on the guy's face, a wonderful one. He told me that he's expecting his first child, that he had been faithful waiting one in his 8 year marriage.

I hadn't have the chance to continue the chat, since my tire was ready at the time, but I can tell you this. The guy's a fighter. To have survived Jakarta in -- years, with that kind of job. I'd give a standing ovation if the guy's a performer. The guy had really changed from his grumpy, murder-looking face to this wonderful, would-be father.

So, impressed already with the story of his life, he installed the tube back on the the tire, and gave his final touch to it, swept the rims a nice and clean. I became really impressed then, so impressed that I decided to gave him Rp 50.000 I saved to be the week's bank saving. He actually refused it first; saying that it's too much for his services, but I made him took it anyway.

Now, if only our government, all echelons, even all Indonesian people have that same spirit and work ethos. I can only see good things happening.

(De)generation Y

I've been pushed to think about juvenile delinquency this this past week. Starting with my visit to my elementary and junior high. With all the nostalgic thoughts I went and chat with some of my old teachers, and particularly with my 6th grade teacher. It's been awhile since my last visit, about two years ago. Things have more or so changed. The building is now better painted, better equipped. The teachers too, are faithful staying in the school, one of them is the teacher.

On and on we talked about the past and the present, to the point that we compared them. She told me that the best class she taught is ours -- It was her first class when she started teaching in St.Caroline. She also told me that our juniors are getting more and more uninterested in studying. There are many which caused this, and one of the main thing is the internet, particularly online games. She frowns upon hearing her students talking more about Warcraft DoTA, Seal, and many other game titles than about their falling grades.

Okay, maybe it is a bit "nerdy", if you say so, but I thought about it, and I agree. Of course, in my younger days we don't always talk about grades and school subjects, but we talked about other things too, say cartoon for instance. In my days, Sunday televisions still show A LOT of cartoons and kids show. I could get up at 5 in the morning and watch Ultraman believing in hope and kicking an alien's ass, and continue watching Doraemon teaching Nobita about life, until just before midday to see Power Rangers team-working to beat a terror in a form of gigantic monster. Nowadays, I got up at 10 once, and see gossip shows on a national television.

Whether you agree or not, it MADE us.

I used to make a bet with my best buddy when we were at 5-6th grade, Rp.500 for whoever gets the higher score in a test. I doubt kids do that nowadays. Yeah, maybe it's a just a chump-change, but even then we were competing for something more than the Rp.500, it was a competition to BE BETTER.
Our parents used to think it's bad to play video games at a friend's house so often, but when I think of the future, I'd prefer my children to do the same, rather than going to an internet cafe playing online games, they could be a subject of MANYMANYMANY bad influences there.

Guess what ? Our generation's degenerating also. The Merriam-Webster Online defines it as "to sink into a low intellectual or moral state". Yesterday I attended Law Faculty's Students Representative meeting. What was going on there only made me like Captain Picard up there.

Honestly, the meet wasn't well prepared, there were many things that had to be questioned. It wasn't just the comittee, the participants were also "morally low". Yes, they got some good points about what they object, but half the time it'd be someone commenting and objecting on something pointless.

I always believe that a part of exposing a problem is also to try and provide the solution. I honestly don't know their motive when they did that yesterday, was it to look smart, or did it really bother them that much.

I'm reading a book by Eric Fromm, The Heart of Man. It's about human capacity to hate, to destroy, basically, to do everything that is opposite of love. It was in the 1964 when he finished the book, but one statement caught my eye. In the foreword, he stated that "...the present-day mood of violence which is manifested in juvenile delinquency...", I thought for a while, and a bit amazed that the same problem is still around, even maybe getting worse.

In my mind, juvenile delinquency is not only when a child is disobedient to his/her parents advice or when it is only criminal law violation, but when a kid rides a motorcycle without a riding license (most times with no helmet too), when students got in a fight, when a minor smokes, when there's bullying, when a minor smokes in a non-smoking area (duh..).

I had classmates from my elementary who you could say is a bully. You know those cliché stories about bullies being unsuccesful later in their life ? Guess what, they are true. One of the bully gets jail time. He ended up being a drug courier. The other one, went away from home because he lost in a bet (I heard he had to pay Rp.13 million).

Cliché stuff become a cliché because they happen very often.

In the end, I just wanna say, look out for our friends, younger siblings and juniors.

Give them a hand when they nearly slip off the edge.

We could be heroes.

-Bee