Monday, November 30, 2009

Note on Eid Al Adha's day (1430H)


Today is Thursday, November 26, 2009. I am visiting my parents here in Cisewu, a small town located in southern Bandung. It's about 90 km from Bandung and around 105 km from Garut. You may reach this place either through Garut or Pangalengan. Garut is actually our regency, yet most people here prefer to come to Bandung to fulfill all their needs. I do also come to Bandung to study at one of the finest universities there.

Since tomorrow is one of the greatest days for us – Muslims, therefore I am coming back home to celebrate it with my family. Yes, tomorrow is the day of the festival of sacrifice or more popular as “Hari raya Qurban” among Indonesians. This year is quite special for me since one of my family members, my little sister, is going to make sacrifice by slaughtering a goat. She asked my parents to make a sacrifice, as the proof of her earnestness she even donated her saving money from school to buy a 1.1-million sheep. I'm proud of having a smart fifth-grader sister like her.

Well, I don't make a sacrifice this year since last year I did it. In 2008, the price of goat I bought was nine hundred thousand rupiahs, 200 thousands rupiahs much cheaper than it is now which my sister buys. This raising price does make sense to us as the price of all goods including livestock also is increasing as the cause of inflation and scarcity of goat in my town.
Making sacrifice in hard time like these days is sort of a must for those who have. I don't say that parents or family of mine are affluent, but we’ll try to make it yearly, insya Allah. I think it's not a hard thing to buy a sheep for qurban if we have strong passion to make it. There's nothing to do with having money or not. To me, the first most important thing is the intention, just make it beforehand guys. Please do verbalize it long long before you make a sacrifice. Then the second point is then probably about so-called foldable stuff. We can save it if we are really eager to do it. Trust me; it isn't that hard to allocate money for Qurban. You just need to save 3 thousand rupiahs per day and in a year you'll gain more than 1 million and that suffices you to buy a goat.

Sadly to say, people who make Qurban this year seems decreasing in my city, there are fewer people who make it than last year. It happens in almost all part in this regency. It is probably because the difficulties we’ve got as earth quake struck us lately. It makes me sad if that is really the cause for not making qurban. But surprisingly, there’s miracle happened, there’s a company donated some money to make qurban. Yes, we do thank that company for donating a cow to be slaughtered.

The essence of qurban isn’t about how many qurban you make or how big the animal is, though some of us might argue that the bigger animal the better it is. In viewpoint of mine, it comes back to the intention. When we have right intention to have it, then just make it. Don’t wait till you find the best or big animal to be slayed. On this Eid Al Adha day, there were totally 3 cows and around 8 sheep slaughtered at my big mosque. We trusted the committee of the mosque to manage them all. I do confess that there are some inadequacies in managing the animals. First, members of the committee still have inabilities to distribute the flash to the right people who really need it. The second is that they can’t maximize to acquire as many animals as it can. I mean, the committee just waited people to make their sacrifice. They didn’t make any announcement through easy-accessed-media such as brochure, leaflet, bulletin or radio. Maybe I go far comparing the committee to the committees in Bandung such as Rumah Zakat or Daarut Tauhiid ^_^.

After being distributed, the flash or meat is usually processed by people at their house with all family members. I do like making it to be sate – small pieces of meat roasted on skewer. It tastes even more delicious if we eat it with soy sauce and boiled rice (nasi liwet), hm…yummy and luscious. This mouthwatering-dish on Eid Al Adha day seems to be a must-eat meal to make the celebration merrier. You might have your very own dishes, share with me then ^_^.

What matters me on the day of Eid Al Adha is that the view I saw on telly. It didn’t really a problem nearby my hometown though. I saw marching-people who really wanted to get the flash of meat until sacrificing their lives in rushing to get qurban’s meat. It happened in big cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya and others. Thanks God since we never experienced that here in the town of mine. It is because the number of so-called underprivileged people not that big than it is in big cities. To deal with this peculiar issue, we need to learn from the past experiences and try to refine the methods of distributing the flash. I’m very much sure that if the committee of qurban and government work hard to fine solution, the case will be solved then. Using coupon is might a better choice for distributing the meat.
Well, there are always plus and minus in everything around us. I do know that Eid Al Adha does have them too. It’s all our duty to make the celebration better. May we can contribute to improve our Eid in the future. Thank you

*Unedited yet

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The death

Dear all,
I don’t mean to wow anyone by putting the topic above. But this is very true that we all will die and it means, we’ll be no more here, in the place where we love the most – the world. Yeah, we live just once and many people just say “roll the dice and enjoy your life”. Well, for some reasons this statement can be true. But, have we ever thought that after the life we live now, there will be an eternal life and that won’t end, guaranteed. Enjoying life means not spending and wasting our time buy doing such extravagant things, that’s what I’ve got on mind of mine, period!

Death is something that most people afraid of, so am I. No one knows for sure when she or he will die. No one wants to die, Steve Jobs has ever said, “The one who wishes to enter heaven doesn’t want to die to go there”. God has made death a mystery that can never be cracked by even super intelligent people or advanced technologies. Death is an incurable disease and unsolvable puzzle for every human and maybe for angel, Satan, jinn and everything. But for sure only Allah knows it.

A thing that shocked me when I was a child is that the term of NDE (Near Death Experience), in Indonesian it means “Mati suri”. According to Wikipedia, a near-death experience (NDE), refers to a broad range of personal experiences associated with impending death, encompassing multiple possible sensations including detachment from the body; feelings of levitation; extreme fear; total serenity, security, or warmth; the experience of absolute dissolution; and the presence of a light, which some people interpret as a deity. What I knew about NDE then was, someone who experienced the death then he or she revives or gets up to the earth, wow…such an astonishing thing. That really confiscated my attention since all kid is usually interested in thing seemed unreasonable or odd. Experts or researchers who pay attention to NDE or death itself are plenty. They pretty much do research to unveil the secret behind it. My religion teacher once told me that many of them even spend up to millions of dollars just to see the spirit goes from the body by devising expending stuff in the research.

The movie which shows us about the death is also excessive. Since I’m not a movie-aholic, I just give Final destination as the example. I have ever watched this movie and I think I don’t want to watch the next ones ^_^.
As Moslems, we are highly suggested to be remembering the death on every single day we have. We’ll always be in the right path since we’ll remember that we are here just for awhile. Life in this world is just a moment therefore we’ve gotta use our time wisely. I want myself to implement this too, but I haven’t been able to do so, at least I’ll try.

By remembering that today is the last day we have might make us more careful in living our life. We’ll be more wary when we’re about to make mistake or make sin to anyone. Besides, we’ll be more motivated to do the best and give the extraordinary one in every single effort we do. This is what I hope and everyone does too, right? Well, let’s keep making good deeds and improving our piety to God since we don’t know when will die, but remember, we will be getting old and we will disappear from this world - WE WILL DIE!
Thank you ladies and gentlemen,
Gie

*Unedited yet

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Writing tips from novice!

I used to hate writing something about my feeling since I thought it was not really a man to share my feeling I have on my mind to other people. But lately I realized that it is a good way to improve skill of mine especially in the field of writing. In simply, writing means materializing ideas on mind onto piece of paper or by typing those in computer. The later is now more popular among us as almost everyone has computer, isn’t it?


For many people, sharing ideas by writing those in English can be so hard that they usually just prefer speak to write those out. To me, writing is like easier said than done, even until this moment. Sometimes I feel that my knowledge on how to make a good writing is not sufficient yet. This is what haunting everybody too, I guess. So, many of them just do nothing but condemning circumstances where they are – without any start to type. It is the worst ladies and gentlemen, nothing can suffice your mind’s needs nevertheless you just start writing.

Speaking words is not easy to do either as we have got to make impression that we are capable enough in conveying the message we are going to say. In some cases, it will be better for us if we just write those instead of to speak those out loudly. For example, we’d better ask our lecture about materials we don’t understand through an email instead of to ask him or her directly by phone. If calling is your opinion, I think you should also consider her or his availability since most of them are might busy people taking care of many privacy and college businesses. I do always feel anxious when I am about to call my lecture if I have question. But for me, writing an email often worked out. I pretty much managed by doing that.

To write good article or opinion, you should first start making good intention. And of course a good understanding of English should be put into account, yet, if you don’t think you are not capable enough to write yet, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. As a saying says, ”Don’t be afraid of making mistakes while you are studying any subject since there’s nothing can be learned from being perfect”. In other words, just type your ideas as soon as those appear on your mind. You can type those either in your computer or write those on notebook of yours.

The second point you need to pay attention is developing your writing. Try to find as many sources as possible in supporting the fact for your writing; Wikipedia and Google are the best friends which will help you earnestly in giving anything you are looking for. But be little bit picky in citing or taking any sources, you must at least compare an idea with another from different source. It’ll help you in case someone asks for more than source and that is better for sure.

Third point is letting your imagination fly into the space. Let it go like river flows; don’t make any boundaries as they will just make your idea crippling and stunted. The wilder you think, the better it’ll be. There’s nothing to do with any boundaries since your first aim is basically to produce writing.

Penultimate point, ask or consult someone who knows more about the topic you wrote. Ask him or her to correct if there is mistake or something that’s been changed or updated. Make sure you listen up and write what he or she says. It will be very helpful for you in producing the upcoming writing.

Last but not least, make a blog. Yes, please make a blog of yours as the media for you to express anything you have on your mind or to do anything you wish. There are many blogs you can use such as blogspot (www.blogspot.com) I use here, or wordpress (www.wordpress.com) is also a good site for you. Or maybe any site that provides free blog. By writing on blog, you can brush up your writing skill and sharpen your knowledge in topic you are interested. It’s easy and free to make a blog, but you need to update it regularly – once a week or once a month. It is better if you can update it every day, unluckily I can’t.

Well, what I wrote above just some sort of tips for those who have not started making any writing or anyone who wishes to improve his or her writing skill. It is also aimed to me myself so that I can produce better writing. My writing isn’t good either but I’ll try to learn make it better. That is what learning is all about – never ending improvement! Thanks for reading.


*Unedited yet

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

MOON

Hi all, do you see any special thing with the word I wrote above? Or...maybe you think it is just a piece word composed by four letters - M, double O and N? Well, whatsoever you may say, one thing for sure, now at this moment I’m eager to share with you and the world's citizen about a piece of this word. A moment ago an inspiration just flashed on my mind and I thought it would be great if I materialize it in what is so called writing, on a blog though.

Tonight at 8.20 p.m. (Nov 2, 2009) is nothing but extraordinary for me. I start typing and gazing the moon miles away there from my dorm, as you know I live in the city of Bandung where the sky is much brighter than in Jakarta (our capital). Gazing the night sky has apparently become my just-unveiled-hobby since my partaking of astronomy course at the University of Arizona in 2008. It is definitely true that I am writing this article under the glow of the moon, what an awesome night. Ups…a plane has just passed right under the moon, it even makes tonight more stunning, subhanallah. Well, let me talk first about the moon’s appearance I am staring tonight. From dorm of mine I see it yellowish. It is because my sight is sort of hindered by cloud or fog. It looks beautiful though as God has created it in the perfect shape and of course with its meticulous calculation beyond our thinking. We can never gauge God's perfect creation, period!

As it has been fully known that the moon is the one and only satellite that our earth has. Earth is different from any other planets in our solar system as it only has one satellite. Mars for example has 2 satellites and Jupiter has even 16 which pretty much orbit and revolve around them. Io, Europa, and Callisto are three most familiar Jupiter's satellites I know. Moon in this case also does the same. It never goes away so that the earth will be always “followed” by moon. Moon is much smaller that the earth and what I’ve known that it was formed from the earth long time ago. It is proven by similar material found on the earth's surface and the moon's. Yeah, professor Don who taught us astronomy explained us that there is theory which says so, unfortunately I forgot that.

Someday I've ever thought what will happen if our earth doesn't have moon. Can anyone answer it? What I know is that the moon has many functions and benefits for us – the earth citizen. For one, moon causes tide at seashore. Korean people have been using wave for generating electricity and it helps so much to be less dependent on fossil fuels which are scarce today. Although not all countries uses it, I think Korean people do a very good job and we need to take lesson from them. Secondly, many farmers in many countries use moon's appearance to calculate and determine their harvest or planting time. It's been prevailed even since long time ago. Thirdly, our Islamic calendar uses moon as its calculation system. Our calendar system is very much based on the moon's appearance. It is used to date special occasion such as Eid al Fitr, Ramadan, Islamic new year etc. Therefore it is a great bless from Allah that our Earth has moon. Moon is not an accessory like what we have in our room, it is not just such-a-sheep person who always follows someone for no reason. Instead, it is a thing that benefits a thing it is following. We can learn from the moon, can't we?

Well, in this dimly moonlight, I concur that this moment is such an awesome time to contemplate and reflect anything in my life either my past or my future. The moon I am seeing now shows me the might of God who thoroughly creates and takes care of the entire universe. Every single of us does have problems or hurdles in this life, but we can't just give up. We have God and He will always show us the way if we ask Him for help. Let's ask for God's help by reading, contemplating and understanding this universe.
Only God knows, Allah is great..., thank You Allah for such a superb and wonderful moon :)

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