THE INNOCENCE AMONG US

“Not for God or country – FOR FAMILY” (Sick of It All)



There are some children who are educated with a huge amount of sorrow consideration, been grew up in extreme ways by his parents and, however, some of them became successful because these grown-up children had learn a lot from their childhood deprivation. Corporal punishment (to the child who is one of the manifestations of life are concerned) in fact is still allowed in the teachings of a religion that suggested beating children when they refuse to perform worship. Some schools are still legalize the provision of physical punishment in the name of improving student discipline, and tacitly supported by the people who felt embarrassed toward the behavior of young people who openly show their disagreements against social norms and customs. These group of people wish to restore a state of physical punishment so that they can force an orderly, restrained and under control situation to overcome any juvenile delinquency.

For those who are aging and often considered as ‘senior/ aged costumer’ by the waiter and waitress while they are hanging out in a cafe, who are also easily catch cold when sleeping too late, easily irritable when payday is delayed, and show other old man/woman distinctive characteristics, we refuse to worry about anything that might be happening in the future. What would become of our children when they grow up? Will they be able to face the rigors of the world? What will the Earth's face look like when they are adults, whether sea levels could rise and submerge the island of Java, according to the words of a famous astrologer? Are we willing and able to accept their choices and what will they be?


Apparently, in addition as being a gift, children could also play as temptation for people who have them. A kind of eternal exam in emotional management (as parents), strategy (in finding a gap between war and peace with their spouses) and also marketing (marketing expertise to sell their skill and get a job). Even after children are grown and live separately, they could be a problem for their parents. This is because the parents are the first persons in the spotlight behind the story of a person's success or misfortune. Yes, children are some form of accountability, destiny, redemption and the price you have to pay after enjoying the beauty of love as a couple. Our children will always follow us, both physically and dream, and the bond would not be separated except by death.

Have we grown up?
Physically, the children indeed could not be compared to adults. Their bodies are smaller and weaker, and their plain character make them could be simply manipulated. All limitations inside children should be enough to cultivate adult compassion to protect them, as one of human responsibility to their society. Have we ever heard a single religion that did not suggest the importance of this compassion? I am sure, you all had graduated from elementary school whereas we were taught to memorize about morality values that shall not we forgot easily. 
 
Then, what makes us tempted to harm children? Is it because they would not have a chance to revenge? Is it because they are too naughty, so the devil in our hearts temper and sends us commands to beat them as a lesson how to behave? Or is it some sort of revenge because we were experiencing the same thing during our childhood?

I am sure you are a kind of adults who didn't suddenly come out of the womb of the mother with your huge and strong body. There were times between life and death where we walked on four legs, two feet and three feet, unless, of course, for those who died at a young age, or even shortly after birth. All human beings are children when he/ she was not an adult (or even when he was already an adult). Including you and me. So, you and I are merely an acute masochist enthusiasts who could only find satisfied when hurting ourselves, if we often hurt children intentionally or unintentionally, both physically and verbally. 

Human beings are undoubtly the most eccentric things ever created. He/ she often forget important things, instead remember unimportant things. Something unpleasant and trigger a grief tends to be forgotten, or likely pretend to forget. However, any action of these two-legged creatures have always showed that he/she is still bound to the past and unconsciously seeking an exemption to reduce the weight of his/ her burden that follow each day. A rejection to forget and a denial to recall involved the eternal struggle within an individual who cannot find the boundary between falsehood and truth, individuals who could only produce pain and unwilling to work hard resolve the problem. And that's the reason why in Indonesia, Pawnshop and moneylenders invaded by residents days before feast because they offer a quick solution to resolve society’s financial problems. 

We all know, instant solutions will never deprive cancer forever. They only relieve pain for an instant, like a soothing drug or intoxicating liquor. (Did you know that various drugs was intentionally disbursed by the mysterious stranger to weaken our concentration and endurance, so that we are easily controlled through the culture and lifestyle of consumerism?) We do know and recognize all those unhealthy things, but why do we still drag them into our body? Yes indeed we are adult human physically, but something in the past unresolved makes us dream of becoming children again, right at the moment when any horrible problem occurs.


As the horrified ghosts haunted to seek fulness, past staged as a behaviour and mindset disruption in the present. The past that never recognized as a price of consequence, both collectively as well as individually, will be opening the chance to repeat the same mistakes, because we never teach our own brain system to recognize it as a blunder mistake that require an apology from conscience within ourselves. We could never say ‘do it (to) yourself’ to ourselves, since we;re afraid to admit that reflection of an ugly face in the mirror is ours.

We've all lost something in the past, and wish to get it back when we manipulate our situations similar to the past, reinforced by the attitude of refusal to face forward, hoping that anything lost will be back when we suddenly turn backward. Then how could we pull ourselves from a ravine, since we keep looking at our back, wait for the appearance of miracle?


The ending ‘fight’
Have you ever felt very calm, serene and peaceful when sitting next to a person you've never met before? Or, have you ever felt very tired when you stand in the middle of people, even if you do not speak a single word to them? A sense of peace or no peace, it has nothing to do with how we feel about a person, whether we like it or not, but because of something hidden in his/her mind.

We do not need to be a psychic to be able to ‘read; someone who is now on your side, since you can recognize them through changes in facial expressions, tone of voice, eyes and body language. Someone who harbored a sense of 'good' such as happiness, love, compassion, honesty and sincerity will make us feel comfortable. While someone who keeps a sense of 'evil' as suspicion, envy, jealousy, deceitful, jealous, lying and arrogant could make us wonder why should they have those bad feelings and whether the presence of us lead their negative senses. 

We could sense different bright feelings when encountered a group of children, and let’s compare it with what we feel in a crowd of people who were crammed into a city bus. An office workers and students expressions say the same thing as they both feel a heavy burden along the day, for example, on Monday after a long weekend. While toddlers (with normal conditions and not experiencing such tragedies like natural disasters, fires, etc.) never keep any prejudices and just have a sense of fun, cheerful or curiosity, so we definitely feel homey as stand next to them.

If only all people living on this planet have the same common resolve to change the face of the world, they would know that all can be done easily, even as easy as turning the palm of their hands. When one considers life is a struggle to ideals, justice, marriage, money, or anything that made them won’t stop before achieving it, they actually were in vain since time keep going on, because all men are waiting for their turn to get old, weak and die. So, in summary, all human beings are equally only have one fight to be won, and all people in need of an easy way to win the battle immediately.

I call it as bring ourselves around the children to keep a sense of calm and peace settled in our hearts, and paid back for the peace by filling their curiosity with certain knowledge consider as part of your plan for a better life. These children can be your biological child, nephew, cousin, neighbor’s children, orphans, abandoned children, street children, any children except animal’s children (since animals and human beings are different species. And your knowledge might be useless for animals). 

If we envision the revolution without violence, this is the best way to get started. We are indeed going to lose the unique sensation of adrenalin when get down to the streets with our ideologist allies, or when being chased by guards after threw a Molotov cocktail into the crowd in uniform. You might say, 'This is the real fight!' However, the fighters of our predecessors have passed more severe battles as to keep us away from doing the same thing.

They fight not for the sake of God, and not for the Country either, but for us, their grandchildren, for the sake of their families not to experience life in distress. God is the One That We Don’t Need To Argue About, as God did not need to do anything to prove His existence. In the other hand, Country is a system, an inanimate object, and it does not live unless humans use its term in everyday life. Why should struggle for the sake of an inanimate object when we could harness the energy and power to 'fight' in the fields, planting and nurturing the seeds of goodness in the hearts of children, monitoring their movements, and exhale our last breath in peace as our dreams of better world and living finally brought by their hands, someday? (swastantika)