Minggu, 06 Januari 2013

Share The Gravy of Your Soup to Your Neighbor


Once I had a Pre Departure Orientation (PDO) for the English short course scholarship in the USA in 2009. One of the speakers was Mr.Agoes, the husband of the director of the foundation which provided the scholarship. One of his statements that I noticed in my mind up to now is when he said: many people in developed countries now are advanced in almost all apects of life. From education, technology, entertainment and so forth. But they miss one aspect, the collectivism. That statement suddenly alarmed the memory of my family. I was in a sudden remembered my mother.

I grew up in a humble family. I could study, all my siblings could study, but none of us lived in opulence. My father is only an ordinary civil servant who made money less than 2 millions in a month. In Indonesia, It was really hard to bear 8 childern with that sum of money. Therefore, we used to have a stall to support our financial condition. Every child has his/her own job. I did not play much with the children in my neighborhood because I and my other siblings had to help my mother.

Inspite of living in such condition, my mother always taught us to be thankful and also to be openhanded. I really remember when one time in a fasting month (the month when all moslems fast for the entire month in Ramadhan), my mother made a traditional food called ‘kolak’. It’s made from steamed banana with sugar palm gravy. We would eat that as a break fast meal. She only made it in a medium pan and I thought if it was enough for us. Taking into account if many of us were fasting at the time, I never thought if my mother would share that kolak to our neighbors. I saw her put the kolak into two bowls and she asked me to bring them. I saw if my mother put much gravy into those bowls, but not much banana in there.

At first, I said in my mind if my mother was not necessary to give it to my neighbors because we did not make much of it. Moreover, I thought that my mother just gave them 2 bowls of kolak gravy instead of kolak itself. But next I realized if the core point of it is all about ‘giving’. My mother did not try to satisfy them, but my mother tried to share her joyness no matter how little she could share. Then a beautiful proverb resounded in my mind: giving gifts to the people who you know will erase spite among you.

Nowadays, people are like living in their own lives. The life is mine. Not yours, not his, not theirs and not ours. That we are connected each other, is the important principle in this life. Since what we have gained would be impossible without the involvement of others, we should have realized that we need to live together. I crave a future where someone will share even only the gravy of his soup to his neighbors. I believe if poor people have a bit rights from our wealthy. Let us imagine a world where every neighbor pass out a bit of what they have, to other neighbors. There will be no hunger and war. There will be no resentment and envy. People will no longer make any prejudice with other believers, other races and other tribes, that are different from them.

I am afraid that all sophisticated stuff today has been dehumanizing the society of the world. Education apparently can not satisfy morality in one of the cavities in the human’s heart. People are probably going too far for searching happiness and do not realize if they can make a start from the nearest place namely ‘neighbor.’ Better future of the world is not far from us.

Having seen my mother’s sincerity to share what she has to the others, I decided to do my own. I started to create a better future by giving out all that I can share to the people in my surroundings. I become a regular donor in one orphanage in my vicinity. On the other occasion, I always become a speaker regarding my experince living in USA with university students and guide them in pursuing any scholarships as well. For I am an English teacher, I always give an extra time to my students to improve their skills in English freely. Currently, I also become one of the volunteers for vision impaired people in one foundation in my city. I has to pass out this remarkable value that has been modelled by my mother. If one day I have nothing left, I do not mind to only share the gravy of my last soup.

muhalim/@memetolicious