Thursday, September 29, 2005
Like Breathing
Sungguh mengejutkan betapa kita selalu take for granted certain things yang terbiasa kita lakukan dan alami. Dan sungguh mengejutkan ketika kita sadar bahwa begitu susah bagi orang lain buat melakukan dan mengalami hal-hal tersebut. Dan sungguh mengejutkan betapa kita membutuhkan waktu begitu lama untuk menyadarinya. And it happened to me two days ago.
Hari Senin, 26 September kemarin adalah hari pertama dimulainya term 2 di sekolah gue. Dan gue berencana untuk mengajarkan Perspective Drawing ke anak-anak secondary 1. Gue dah buat 8 halaman fotokopian untuk dibagiin ke semua anak sec 1, semacem introduction tentang Perspective Drawing dan termasuk 1 tutorial sederhana on how to draw buildings using perspective points. Dan kayaknya seh gue udah coba bikin sesederhana mungkin supaya bisa di mengerti oleh anak-anak 12 or 13 years old. Tapi siangnya waktu gue bagiin tuh fotokopian dan mulai nerangin tentang Perspective Drawing di salah satu kelas, I saw so many confused faces. I had so many questions from the kids and so many "Sir, help me here!" and "Sir, how do I do it?". And this class is one of the top classes filled with bright, intelligent kids. But of course there are also some kids who got it and did very good.
Well mungkin fotokopian yang gue bikin terlalu rumit, or maybe I didn't explain it simple enough. But all this time I have believed that simple Perspective Drawing is kids' stuff. It is so easy that even without explanation, even just by looking at and taking some time to observe the example pictures, everybody and I mean EVERYBODY, will get it almost immediately. Okay, maybe I have learned about advanced Perspective Drawing when I was in the Uni. But I remember the first time somebody taught me about simple Perspective Drawing was my mom (she's not artistically trained) and I was only 8 or 9 years old back then. I don't even remember how she taught me, but I knew I got it immediately and was able to do it by myself then. When I looked at pictures, it just all made sense to me. In my mind, I could even see the perspective lines floating all over any pictures. Tapi ternyata tidak semudah itu for other people.
I have been taking my artistic ability for granted all this time. I thought it's just an ability that everybody has. Padahal hal yang sama juga terjadi pada diri gue selama ini, bagaimana gue begitu susah untuk mengerti apa itu accounting, why do we need accounting, and how to deal with those numbers and tables while on the other hands ada orang-orang yang dengan begitu mudahnya bisa kerjain dari nol sampai berupa laporan keuangan yang lengkap. Betapa susahnya Maths buat gue padahal for some people they just see all those equations, variables and numbers and it all makes sense to them and they can just do it in no time at all. How hard it is for me to master sweepicking guitar technique when I've been practising it for years (it's true!) while for my friend it's just a matter of a few hours. Betapa susahnya bagi orang untuk mengerti English or any other languages no matter how hard they study while for some other people it's like eating cookies that have been dipped into a glass of milk; soft, yummy and don't even need to chew them.
I mean, we may not be Michelangelo or Mozart, Bill Gates or Einstein, Karl Marx or Newton, tapi kejadian kemarin itu reminds me that we do have our own gift which we are born with. A gift that is special for each other. And we have been taking it for granted. Sometimes we even think that other people are just too stupid that they don't even understand the simple things that we do effortlessly. Padahal kalo kita sampe berpikir seperti itu, justru kita yang stupid. It's never their fault if they don't get it, it's never our fault if we don't get it. It never does.
~
Paniccela
Hari ini skul gue di bubarin early, jem 11 anak-anak dah disuruh pada balik. Knapa? Yah you know why. Antisipasi atas heboh-heboh demonstrasi dan segala macemnya akibat harga BBM naek. Takut kerusuhan, takut ntar pada gak bisa pulang, takut ini, takut itu.. the same old shits.
Semua guru-guru expatriate pada panik, khususnya yang dari Singapore, karena mereka gak pernah ngalamin yang model begini. Gak pernah ngalamin deg-degan takut kerusuhan gara-gara harga BBM naek. It's a new experience for them. And it's quite funny seh gimana kalo kita di sini malah udah terbiasa banget denger rumor soal kerusuhan, demo-demo, bom dsb dan malah biasanya gak terlalu di tanggepin. Yah gue mencoba menenangkan mereka seh, "It's not that bad.." gue selalu bilang gitu tiap kali ngobrol sama mereka. Padahal dalam hati gue bilangnya "Hopefully.."
Orang-orang yang demo atau yang mao rusuh, pokoknya yang punya niat jelek di saat-saat sekarang ini, aduhh udah dunk please.. jangan bikin malu Indonesia lagi lah. Sedih banget kalo mikirinnya. Kalo orang Indo yang jelek-jelekin Indo seh gapapa deh, it's our own country. Jelek atau baik tetep aja it's our country. Tapi kalo denger orang luar negeri ngomong jelek soal Indonesia.. somehow jadi sedih, malu, dan kesel, "Duh! Indonesia tuh gak sejelek itu tau!" Pengen banget gue ngomong kek gitu keras-keras >.< Tapi gue tau, sekeras apapun gue teriak, keadaan gak bakalan berubah.. gak bakalan. *sigh..*
Sungguh mengejutkan betapa kita selalu take for granted certain things yang terbiasa kita lakukan dan alami. Dan sungguh mengejutkan ketika kita sadar bahwa begitu susah bagi orang lain buat melakukan dan mengalami hal-hal tersebut. Dan sungguh mengejutkan betapa kita membutuhkan waktu begitu lama untuk menyadarinya. And it happened to me two days ago.
Hari Senin, 26 September kemarin adalah hari pertama dimulainya term 2 di sekolah gue. Dan gue berencana untuk mengajarkan Perspective Drawing ke anak-anak secondary 1. Gue dah buat 8 halaman fotokopian untuk dibagiin ke semua anak sec 1, semacem introduction tentang Perspective Drawing dan termasuk 1 tutorial sederhana on how to draw buildings using perspective points. Dan kayaknya seh gue udah coba bikin sesederhana mungkin supaya bisa di mengerti oleh anak-anak 12 or 13 years old. Tapi siangnya waktu gue bagiin tuh fotokopian dan mulai nerangin tentang Perspective Drawing di salah satu kelas, I saw so many confused faces. I had so many questions from the kids and so many "Sir, help me here!" and "Sir, how do I do it?". And this class is one of the top classes filled with bright, intelligent kids. But of course there are also some kids who got it and did very good.
Well mungkin fotokopian yang gue bikin terlalu rumit, or maybe I didn't explain it simple enough. But all this time I have believed that simple Perspective Drawing is kids' stuff. It is so easy that even without explanation, even just by looking at and taking some time to observe the example pictures, everybody and I mean EVERYBODY, will get it almost immediately. Okay, maybe I have learned about advanced Perspective Drawing when I was in the Uni. But I remember the first time somebody taught me about simple Perspective Drawing was my mom (she's not artistically trained) and I was only 8 or 9 years old back then. I don't even remember how she taught me, but I knew I got it immediately and was able to do it by myself then. When I looked at pictures, it just all made sense to me. In my mind, I could even see the perspective lines floating all over any pictures. Tapi ternyata tidak semudah itu for other people.
I have been taking my artistic ability for granted all this time. I thought it's just an ability that everybody has. Padahal hal yang sama juga terjadi pada diri gue selama ini, bagaimana gue begitu susah untuk mengerti apa itu accounting, why do we need accounting, and how to deal with those numbers and tables while on the other hands ada orang-orang yang dengan begitu mudahnya bisa kerjain dari nol sampai berupa laporan keuangan yang lengkap. Betapa susahnya Maths buat gue padahal for some people they just see all those equations, variables and numbers and it all makes sense to them and they can just do it in no time at all. How hard it is for me to master sweepicking guitar technique when I've been practising it for years (it's true!) while for my friend it's just a matter of a few hours. Betapa susahnya bagi orang untuk mengerti English or any other languages no matter how hard they study while for some other people it's like eating cookies that have been dipped into a glass of milk; soft, yummy and don't even need to chew them.
I mean, we may not be Michelangelo or Mozart, Bill Gates or Einstein, Karl Marx or Newton, tapi kejadian kemarin itu reminds me that we do have our own gift which we are born with. A gift that is special for each other. And we have been taking it for granted. Sometimes we even think that other people are just too stupid that they don't even understand the simple things that we do effortlessly. Padahal kalo kita sampe berpikir seperti itu, justru kita yang stupid. It's never their fault if they don't get it, it's never our fault if we don't get it. It never does.
~
Paniccela
Hari ini skul gue di bubarin early, jem 11 anak-anak dah disuruh pada balik. Knapa? Yah you know why. Antisipasi atas heboh-heboh demonstrasi dan segala macemnya akibat harga BBM naek. Takut kerusuhan, takut ntar pada gak bisa pulang, takut ini, takut itu.. the same old shits.
Semua guru-guru expatriate pada panik, khususnya yang dari Singapore, karena mereka gak pernah ngalamin yang model begini. Gak pernah ngalamin deg-degan takut kerusuhan gara-gara harga BBM naek. It's a new experience for them. And it's quite funny seh gimana kalo kita di sini malah udah terbiasa banget denger rumor soal kerusuhan, demo-demo, bom dsb dan malah biasanya gak terlalu di tanggepin. Yah gue mencoba menenangkan mereka seh, "It's not that bad.." gue selalu bilang gitu tiap kali ngobrol sama mereka. Padahal dalam hati gue bilangnya "Hopefully.."
Orang-orang yang demo atau yang mao rusuh, pokoknya yang punya niat jelek di saat-saat sekarang ini, aduhh udah dunk please.. jangan bikin malu Indonesia lagi lah. Sedih banget kalo mikirinnya. Kalo orang Indo yang jelek-jelekin Indo seh gapapa deh, it's our own country. Jelek atau baik tetep aja it's our country. Tapi kalo denger orang luar negeri ngomong jelek soal Indonesia.. somehow jadi sedih, malu, dan kesel, "Duh! Indonesia tuh gak sejelek itu tau!" Pengen banget gue ngomong kek gitu keras-keras >.< Tapi gue tau, sekeras apapun gue teriak, keadaan gak bakalan berubah.. gak bakalan. *sigh..*