Recognition of Life

Salaam.. waah, sukanya interface baru blog ini, lebih ergonomik dan agora. Kamu semua tahukah, kalau bab menulis, saya suka ruang kertas yang hiper-luas. Macam tu ruang lapang bha, di mana kita boleh teriak sekuat-kuatnya tanpa perlu kisah apa orang lain fikirkan. I want that kind of space, you know.

Berbalik kepada isu, saya suka untuk memberitahu bahawa saya kebosanan sekarang. Serius, rasa gatal tangan mahu menulis (padahal kalau ada assignments, hmm...). Abaikan. Atau baca jaa. It's quite long, I presume. And a bit serious, too.

Betul kata orang, apabila sesuatu/seseorang itu telah pergi, perasaan rindu mesti tiba-tiba menompok. Kadang-kadang rasa bersalah turut serta, menyempitkan lagi ruang bernafas. Kehilangan sesuatu itu- apalagi yang berharga- sangat dirasai oleh semua.

Penghargaan adalah suatu persoalan subjektif, meskipun melibatkan hal-hal konkrit. Penghargaan bergantung dengan keperluan serta kehendak, dan kesesuaian diri seseorang terhadap subjek. Kebanyakan masa pula ianya berletak peraturan yang menghubungkan seseorang dengan hal-hal tertentu. Boleh jadi juga, penghargaan itu bersifat relatif.

Apabila kita membuat suatu tugasan, terutamanya tugasan di maktab ini, pasti disuruh kita menyiapkan sehelai dua seksyen penghargaan. Pernah tidak kita tanya diri sejujurnya; betapa berhargakah penghargaan yang kita siapkan dengan bahasa SPM A+ itu? Ataukah ianya cuma pelengkap kertas tugasan? Mungkinkah ianya cuma hasil retorik dan pemikiran cetek untuk sekadar memenuhi kehendak soalan?

Ketika di dalam Facebook, selalu kita mengucapkan hari jadi. Baiklah, berapa antara kita yang menulis "hb", "slamat hr jd" dan pelbagai singkatan lain yang mempunyai maksud serupa. Tanyakan lagi diri, betapa dalamkah penghargaan yang kita sisipkan bersama setiap suku kata perkataan yang ditulis?

(Di sini bukanlah saya ingin merombak keikhlasan para pembaca, cumanya benda-benda kecil beginilah yang jika tidak diperhatikan akan menjadi kebiasaan).

Lama  saya renungkan perkara ini dan saya mula membiasakan diri untuk bukan setakat memenuhi kehendak soalan, tetapi memenuhi tujuan kesemua tugasan. Mungkin terlalu lambat untuk mempunyai sentimen bertaubat, tetapi saya akan- inshaAllah- praktikkannya dalam tugasan akan datang.

Or else, I will be just like a robo-writer: robot which writes and does not hell understand- not even bothered to- about its writing result. 

Tetapi ini bukanlah idea utama dalam pos ini. Saya mau membawa kamu untuk menyelami suatu lagi konsep penghargaan yang jauh lebih dalam makna dan lebih mulia tujuannya. So, stay tuned; I am not done with my idea. 

Sebenarnya, penghargaan yang baru saya ulas panjang lebar di atas adalah suatu kewajiban, I would say- rukun- in order to be a normal human. Subhuman-lah kalau tiada sensitiviti menghargai orang lain. Penghargaan jenis ini tipikal dan fitrah manusia untuk dilakukan. The higher degree of appreciation; I am only  saying this once, seriously; is:

"To appreciate little things others do not even bother looking, and to appreciate things that appear so simple, but it had great impact on your life."

Mine life is rather filled with those little things. They are like termites towards a house, you know. One of them, no matter how small it is, can shatter your whole neighborhood down (exaggeration, exaggeration), and that needs recognition, just like the recognition of life shown in the following story:

One day, an old man was walking with his bare feet alongside a beach. The weather was so fine, the Sun was just getting ready to move its blanket of night. At the horizon, sky was ablaze, like on fire, you know- that orange, reddish scheme of sky during sunrise- yeah, that one (pointing your imagination). There was no sound but the sound of waves coming, hitting endlessly to the rocks and sands of that beach.

In the midst of enjoying that symphony of life, this uncle, he stepped on a starfish. That starfish was on dry sand, far from the reach of ocean water. It looked kind of dehydrated, and so, that uncle took that starfish and flung it to the ocean Before he did that, he whispered something to that euw-wy and slimy organism. 

And he continued his walking. 

And soon, he stepped on more, and more of that species along the beach. Each time he found a new starfish which needed his assistance of getting into safe water, he will just like picked them up and threw it onto the air, before they plunged into the sea, and got drifted away. 

Little did he knew, a young and pragmatic man was watching his doing. Picking, and throwing; picking and throwing, and a pause between both, when he whispered something to all the starfishes he found. This young, handsome and idealistic man walked to him (the old man) and had a conversation that changed his life (and I hope, the life of readers of this post, too). There were walking, when they said these: 

Teenager: "Sir, are you going to do that continuously? To all the starfishes here? Because I noticed that you were doing so since like, fifty minutes ago..."

Old man : "Yes, of course."

Teenager: "But don't you think that would be impossible? There are several miles of coastline more to go, you won't make a difference!" 

That uncle bent as he saw another dehydrated starfish. 

Old man : "Do you know what I whispered to each and everyone of them when I were to throw them back?"

Teenager: "No.". That uncle looked at him with such glassy and sorrowful eyes.

Old man : "I said, "This is the least I could do to you and your families in repaying you guys kindness in making the sea beautiful an ecologically stable...","

He added, before throwing the starfish he had whispered with,  

"It makes difference for this one", and threw it to the ocean. And the Sun smiled, blessing the deed.

"Aahhh!!!!!!!! Help me, I'm toast!!" (sangat childish, bukan?)

^P/S: LOL, kamu patut tengok macamana saya tulis refleksi dan penghargaan baru-baru ini; penuh ketulusan dan sekali gus hal yang nda patut-patut. Geez, saya nda kira, saya mau ekspres jugak apa yang saya rasa.