Love is Cinto

1. Usahakan sebisa mungkin hanya kita dan Allah yang tahu. Bukan kenapa2 sih, hanya untuk menjaga keikhlasan hati supaya tidak berubah ke riya’. Dalam hal untuk ketertiban administrasi dan persiapan laporan pertanggungjawaban, sah2 saja untuk memberikan data (meskipun bisa saja nama anonim tetapi ada nomor hp). Why no hp saja? Kalau no hp kan ga serta merta ketahuan itu siapa. In case di publish di media komunikasi/massa. Gak tau ya, saya kok ngrasa gak nyaman saja kalau ketahuan orang. Bukan apa2, saya lebih takut ke diri saya sendiri yang ada kalanya lengah dengan bujukan setan dan akhirnya sedikit riya’ atau berbangga hati. 2. Jangan pernah menghitung apa yang sudah kita berikan. Gives..gives.. that would not make you have less. Akan ada keberkahan yang wujudnya macam2, bisa berimbas ke materi atau tidak. Tapi percayalah ridha dan berkah Allah itu akan diberikan kepada orang yang membelanjakan hartanya di jalanNya. Btw, di “jalanNya” disini jangan disalahartikan jadi bantuan pera...

Having a dream teaches you the art of living. It is important to know when to start, when you have to bend, and most importantly when to let go… Yes. To LET GO. When (almost) all motivators that I’ve seen telling their audience to fight for their dream relentlessly, though of course I am not a motivator, but I say: “WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE ENOUGH TO DREAM BIG.. YOU HAVE TO PREPARE 2 THINGS: ENERGY TO FIGHT AND TO LET GO.” As for myself, it is easier for me to fight, fight, fight, and fight till the last drop of my blood. Though it’s such a long and exhausting battle, I know that it is only a matter of time before I win the war. But today I learn, that not every dream has to become true. When you hold too tight to anything (included dreams, passions, and desires), you might need to WATCH OUT if your passion has turn into obsession. This is not healthy! Passion can thus turn into a monster that eats us alive, if we are too stubborn or too proud to admit that we might need to let ...

08.15 AM “Bu, nggak ada tempe goreng ya?”, tanyaku ke Ibu penjaga warung tenda di seberang kantor saat sarapan pagi tadi. Si Ibu menggeleng. “Nggak ada, neng. Kan udah tiga hari ini nggak ada yang jualan tempe tahu. Lagi pada demo atuh neng”, begitu terangnya. Memang beberapa hari ini bisa dibilang tahu dan tempe termasuk barang langka. Pasalnya, para penjual makanan berbahan dasar kedelai itu sedang melakukan aksi mogok untuk menuntut penurunan harga kedelai yang makin meroket.  “Kemaren ada neng yang masih jualan. Cuma satu orang di Simpang Dago. Dia gak mau ngikutin pedagang-pedagang yang lain. Akhirnya kemarin diobrak-abrik itu dagangannya”, si Ibu masih melanjutkan curcolnya dengan semangat. “Padahal ya neng, itu juga mengurangi pendapatan saya. Biasanya saya kan bikin tahu isi atau tempe goreng, sekarang  teu aya .” Aku terdiam sejenak. Dalam hatiku, sebal juga atas ketiadaan makanan favorit sejuta umat di Indonesia itu, termasuk aku. Hehe. Apalagi tempe...

FROM INDONESIA TO THE U.S., STUDENTS LIVE ACROSS TWO CULTURES On a recent trip to Java, Indonesia’s most populous island, I met a survivor of the 2010 Mount Merapi volcanic eruption, which killed more than 350 people and forced 350,000 to evacuate their homes. The man told us how he was forced to rebuild his life in a land devastated by lava and ash. Several weeks later, Cut Nury Hikmah Sabry and Soulaya Lestary, two students from the University of Indonesia, visited the Boys and Girls Club in Bethlehem and taught the children a traditional dance from Aceh, a region of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. These experiences and others like them brought two countries separated by geographic distances, cultural differences, and historical narratives closer together. They were made possible by the United States Indonesia Partnership Program (USIPP), through which eight students from Lehigh, the University of Indonesi...