"Cinta Segitiga"

Saya dan istri, Chiko Simanjuntak, mendapat pelajaran penting dari mengikuti weekend pasutri yang diselenggarakan oleh GKI Kebayoran Baru. Selama tiga hari, kami dan enam belas pasutri lainnya terisolasi dari keriuhan dunia luar dan rutinitas kami masing-masing. Selama tiga hari itu perhatian setiap suami dan setiap istri tidak ada lain selain ke pasangannya masing-masing. Dan memang itulah ide sentralnya, yaitu 'fokus kepada pasangan'. Menjelang sesi akhir, kami mendapat kekuatan baru yang kami betul-betul perlukan untuk memulihkan relasi suami-istri kami yang sedang terganggu sekali pada waktu itu. Melalui penjelasan pengantar oleh pendeta terlebih dahulu yang kemudian disusul dengan sharing oleh pasutri yang anggota tim sharing, kami mendapat kekuatan baru ketika dijelaskan bahwa bagaimana bible menghendaki di dalam setiap hidup pernikahan ada sebuah relasi yang digambarkan sebagai relasi segitiga, yaitu saya, pasangan saya dan Tuhan, Allah Bapa di surga. Tidak mungkin relasi saya dengan istri saya baik, di mana relasi saya dengan Tuhan Allah tidak baik. Sehingga tidak mungkin saya dapat katakan bahwa saya memiliki relasi yang baik dengan Tuhan Allah, sementara saya tidak berelasi dengan baik dengan istri saya, Chiko. Ini sebuah kebenaran yang sebenarnya sudah diperdengarkan kepada kami dalam berbagai kesempatan, baik lewat khotbah, bible, maupun dari buku-buku kristen yang kami baca. Pikir saya, bila kami tidak terisolasi seperti ini, kami akan terus mengira bahwa kami sudah mengamalkan kebenaran tersebut dan tentunya terus mengira bahwa pasangan kamilah yang menjadi masalah. Buat kami dan keenambelas pasutri lain, ternyata dibutuhkan pengisolasian diri seperti weekend pasutri ini, agar kesungguhan dan perhatian penuh untuk menyelami relasi cinta segitiga ini benar-benar terjadi. Mudah-mudahan ini bisa menjadi berkat buat yang membaca blog saya. God bless you.

A lesson of life from the earthquake

Most people would try to understand a post-earthquake paranoid person who then redoing the entire house foundation so the house will have stronger-than-before grip to the ground. But, what happens next is, that same person is living in that house with a groundless-mind, for keep on fearing the house is still prone to collapse, and doubting the new foundation is strong enough to handle the next shaking ground.

The above hypothetical story is meant to get all of us thinking, that, it is true a solid foundation is important to the resilience of a house(-hold)-structure to be built on it, especially in times of shaking ground, but there is another important thing inseparable to the previous that keeps body, mind and soul always in comfort while living in that house, the faith.

This is a self-built thought that mirrors past journey of mine. I hope it blesses you as it blesses me. Please do drop me a posting if you too share the same thought with me.

God bless you.

O My Tapian Na Uli..

O Tano Batak
O tano Batak haholonganku
(O tanah Batak yang kucinta)

Sai namasihol do au tu ho
(Selalu aku rindu padamu)

Ndang olo modom, Ndanga nok matangku
(Tak bisa tidur, mataku tak dapat terlelap)

Sai namalungun do au, sombulon hi.
(Selalu aku ingin datang padamu, kerinduanku)

Reff:

O tano Batak sai naeng hutatap
(O tanah Batak selalu ingin kupandang)

Dapothononku tano hagodanganki
(Aku datangi tanah kelahiranku)

O tano Batak andingan sahat
(O tanah Batak, kapan sampainya)

Au on naeng mian di ho sambulon hi
(Aku berada di sana, kerinduanku)

(Bahasa translation by Barita M. S.)
http://www.gugalyrics.com/VIKTOR-HUTABARAT-O-TANO-BATAK-LYRICS/320667/

The song was so well-written that I decided not to translate it into English without first committed to spend enough time for doing it. The song deserves that. It may be translated into different languages but one must retain the breath that comes out from the lyrics. O Tano Batak describes how the land of Batak (that's what Tano Batak means) could be so irresistibly longed for, even though he or she has lived a good life somewhere in other part of the world.

Since the day the song was created, we can expect the land of batak has experienced progresses. People go to a better education, and land on better jobs accordingly. Men can feed their household a lot different from the way their parents fed them. More infrastructures as budget allows. Lake Toba attracts not only domestic, but overseas tourists, benefiting not only the government pocket with additional foreign exchange, but the welfare of people that live in the surrounding. So, things should have been doing well for people who live in the land of batak ever since right? Is it?

The fact is, like other regions in the country, the land of batak has also been going through struggling years. There was even a time, when the land of batak was in desperate need for progress, then the North Sumatera governor launched a campaign called "Marsipature Hutana Be", meaning “let us all develop our own villages”. The campaign was designed to call on batak people, especially those who have scattered outside the land and lived a good life, to return home and build their own village. (I wonder if this reminds you of something). The concept is brilliant, one must say. Although, there are mixed opinion about the turn outs. Some wealthy batak families took the call whole-heartedly to help build their villages where their moms and dads were raised years ago. But some more took it differently though. From the sharing made available by the people who took part in the campaign, instead of using their excess wealth to build village roads, medical clinics, pay doctor salaries, finance local farmers, etc., it turns out that some wealthy batak families brought their cash only to build family monuments in remembering their great, great, great, great, great…grandfathers. There were doubts that the campaign has delivered a successful result. But there were also optimism it did work as expected. Nonetheless, the campaign has over, but the call likely remains flowing down through generations, yet still in its form which is prone to a different interpretation. This is only because the call has never received a new definition.

Why bother speaking of this? If you agree that it is the quality of human being that really counts where the quality of life increasingly demands for improvement, then this should not bother you at all. What is really bothering is the news about a protest that has taken the life of a human being.

A crowd of 2,000 people shocks a local council member to death.

Recent death of North Sumatra legislative council speaker Abdul Aziz Angkat (Tues, 3/2) highlights the fact that the use of means of diplomacy is still remote from everyday's life of our so called 'madani' society. Let alone at the grass root level, it barely touches the life of council members who, by definition, are representative of the general public. This, by all means, is talking about the quality of human being.

Abdul Aziz Angkat died of a heart attack after he was rushed way (see picture above, source: Kompas.com) from an angry mob who staged a protest demanding for legislative recommendation to establish a new province of Tapanuli. The protest turned into act of anarchy after the council decided to conclude its first plenary meeting for the year, making the discussion to give a recommendation for a creation of a new Tapanuli province gets postponed. Unhappy supporters must wait until next preliminary meeting.

Koran Tempo reported, the voice demanding to further split North Sumatera province and create Tapanuli province dates back in the 1950s. The Dutch administration, however, sunk the aspiration. Although it never ceases to exist, the aspiration didn't get the momentum until the reform era began and gave birth to the regional autonomy law.

The report suggests supporters of Tapanuli province obviously have lost their patient. Report says, Abdul took a punch on his face during the protest. His weak heart can not stand the tension, and he died at Gleni International Hospital, Medan.

Links to related news:
http://cetak.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/02/07/00324417/kekerasan.bukan.kegemaran.orang.batak
http://www.korantempo.com/korantempo/koran/2009/02/04/headline/krn.20090204.155786.id.html http://cetak.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/02/06/00281654/anarkisme.politik.kerumunan
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/05/the-dream-‘tapanuli’-takes-ugly-turn.html

A song that fits the purpose

A particular video clip was supposed to accompany this writing, because this is about a special song of mine. But turned out the video was not available for Indonesian netters to view. Another good live version of it ended up fail to run well in Facebook due to some kind of restriction. Perhaps, I should just start writing.

Amazing how an old love song can be so bluntly speaking on one's behalf, after many years passed since it was released back in 1986. It was a song by Chris de Burgh titled 'Lady in Red' . If you don't familiar with him, neither do I. But, I am pretty sure I have been carrying 'Lady in Red' tunes somewhere in the back of my mind for quite a while. Then, it was one afternoon when I heard it again played in a radio. As I listened Chris singing the song, I followed the lyrics attentively, word by word. Wrapped with a well-thought of sounds of music instruments, the song made a comeback at me. This time with lyrics, not just tunes. One thing left to another, a plan to make my own 'Lady in Red' performance was set to go.

My own version of performing the masterpiece was much more simple.
I sat by the piano on a fine evening, put the phone on the piano cover with her still on the line, and then intentionally left her at surprise after I finished singing this:

Never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight
Never seen you shine so bright hmm...
Never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance
Looking for a little romance
Given half a change
I have never seen the dress you’re wearing
Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes
I have been blind

Lady in red is dancing with me
Cheek to cheek
There’s nobody here
Just you and me
It’s where I wanna be
But I hardly know
The beauty by my side
I’ll never forget the way you look tonight

Never seen you looking so gorgeous as you did tonight
Never seen you shine so bright
You were amazing
I never seen so many people wanna be there by your side
And when you turned to me and smile
It took my breath away
I have never had such a feeling
Such a feeling of complete and all the love
As I do tonight

Lady in red is dancing with me
Cheek to cheek
There’s no body here
Just you and me
It’s where I wanna be
But I hardly know
The beauty by my side
I’ll never forget the way you look tonight
Never will forget the way you look tonight

Lady in red
Lady in red
Lady in red ........My lady in red

That was a performance that may not worth a standing ovation or grammy like Chris probably had, but, she married me.

Would love to hear yours.

Survey ala Tambunan on Facebook!!

Tulisan di bawah ini dimaksudkan semata-mata agar dapat di-link sebagai posting di sebuah grup Facebook, yaitu Tambunan on Facebook di mana saya diminta oleh admin-nya sebagai kontributor.

Horas!

Pada tanggal 10 Desember 2008, 11:55am (Jakarta time) yang lalu, bekerja sama dengan admin grup Tambunan on Facebook, kami mengirim sebuah message ke semua anggota grup perihal survey bertajuk ’adat batak’. Sebenarnya, ini bukan kali yang pertama Tambunan on Facebook mengetengahkan topik diskusi. Ada 2 (dua) topik diskusi sebelumnya di grup ini (anggota grup bisa membacanya di halaman grup ini), namun belum berhasil mendapat respon seperti yang diharapkan.

Dalam bentuknya yang sengaja dibuat sesederhana mungkin, survey ini dimaksudkan semata-mata untuk bahan diskusi semua anggota grup, dengan harapan dapat berlanjut menjadi diskusi yang lebih mendalam atau sekaligus mendorong inisiatif untuk topik diskusi lainnya dari anggota grup.

Pertanyaan yang dikirimkan kali ini adalah sebagai berikut:

Please read. Just take max 3 minutes.
Misal, sebuah survey yang dilakukan 20 tahun dari sekarang menunjukkan bahwa, dari 100 orang batak hanya 1 yang masih bisa bicara dalam bahasa batak dan mengerti adat batak. Menurut kamu, bagaimana urutan dari A, B, C, D di bawah yang paling bertanggung jawab atas situasi hipotetikal ini?

A. Organisasi marga (punguan)
B. Orang tua kita sekarang
C. organisasi gereja batak seperti HKBP, HKI
D. Saya

(Contoh: ADCB, DCBA, dsb....)

Atas sebuah usul, ketimbang hanya posting topik diskusi di halaman grup Tambunan on Facebook, maka topik ini juga dikirimkan langsung ke masing-masing anggota melalui fasilitas message all members. Cara ini membuahkan hasil.

Dari 124 orang yang terdaftar sebagai anggota Tambunan on Facebook, diperoleh 21 anggota atau sekitar 17% nya yang menyumbangkan pendapat. Sebuah hasil yang tidak jelek untuk first trial.

Dari 21 respon yang masuk, sebanyak 52% responden mengakui bahwa diri mereka sendiri lah (SAYA) di urutan PERTAMA yang paling bertanggung jawab atas hasil survey hipotetikal tersebut.

Sementara itu, ORANG TUA ditempatkan mereka di urutan KE DUA yang paling bertanggung jawab, yaitu oleh sebanyak 57% responden. Disusul ORGANISASI MARGA yang dipilih oleh 62% responden sebagai yang paling bertanggung jawab urutan KE TIGA. Akhirnya, ORGANISASI HKBP dipilih untuk menempati urutan terakhir (KE EMPAT) sebagai yang paling bertanggung jawab, yaitu oleh sebanyak 62% responden.

Walapun 33% responden menganggap ORGANISASI HKBP sebagai yang paling bertanggung jawab urutan KE TIGA, namun tidak seorangpun menempatkan ORGANSASI HKBP sebagai yang paling bertanggung jawab di urutan PERTAMA maupun KE DUA.

Hasil survey ini sedikit terganggu dengan adanya sebuah respon yang tidak menjawab dalam urutan seperti yang diminta. Yang bersangkutan hanya memilih satu di antara empat pilihan. Ini bisa saja diartikan bahwa yang bersangkutan sama sekali tidak melihat tiga pilihan lainnya ada sangkut paut dengan situasi hipotetikal tersebut. Namun demikian, bisa juga diartikan, yang bersangkutan memiliki keterbatasan pengetahuan untuk memperkirakan apakah tiga pilihan lainnya bisa memberikan pengaruh terhadap hasil survey hipotetikal yang diketengahkan di atas.

Apakah anggota grup Tambunan on Facebook lainnya juga berpendapat sama dengan hasil survey ini?

Intriguing question

I am sure that there has to be one time in your life that you just can't avoid not to give your inner say a best shot to respond to a simple, yet, intriguing statement.

An FB friend of mine posted his statement on last Saturday that reads, "Can you think of ways that something good in your life can result from the financial meltdown?" Instantly, I say to myself, "It's jeopardy". You know, the famous tv quiz to most US viewers, which is instead of coming up with an 'answer', the only way you can win the quiz is to come up with the right 'question' everytime you can. (hope I'm right about this).

"I don't mean to undermine the implications the crisis has brought into people's lives, but I must say, to some extent the crisis has done perfect job in bringing key principals in economic and financial textbooks to live. It provides worthwhile visual to less financial literate people, especially me, in order to live life with wisdom, at least financially."

This is the thought that has already been in my head for quite some time, and it just poured out like that in the Wall of this FB friend of mine, only because he posted the question that matches the answer in my possession, like "jeopardy" (again, hope I'm right about the quiz).

Perhaps, this is not so important to others, but the experience is surely worth writing.

Glory be to God

Just recently, I found what I was looking for in YouTube. In an enthusiasm, I was searching whatever video that shows a choir performance singing GF Handel's masterpiece, the "Great Hallelujah" Chorus.

I remember the heavenly feeling I had when we put ourselves to the test by singing this song in front of our elders and congregation. Although it wasn't an easy role to do, yet, conducting NHKP Rajawali Pademangan Choir had put me in the spot light, with the attention and all that. And then, I was struck by the truth, that is, God didn't put me in the spot light so that I took all the glory, on the contrary, so that His name be glorified in my life. I have learned my lesson, and it wasn't an easy part of my life, I tell you that.