Malam Sebelum Pertunjukan

February 16, 2024 Samuel Yudhistira

Beberapa duduk tidak tenang...gelisah...Beberapa sedang memanjatkan doa ke Tuhan dengan nama dan cara yang berbeda...Banyak yang merokok...Sebagian berusaha melontarkan candaan tetapi tetap tidak mampu untuk menyembunyikan ketakutan di balik setiap canda.

Mesin-mesin kota berbunyi terus. Lampu-lampu jalan terus menyala, berusaha untuk menghidupkan kota yang tetap harus hidup walau dipaksa untuk mati. Sebagian besar penghuni kota ini masih punya nyawa tapi sudah hilang jiwanya ditelan obsesi. Obsesi untuk menjadi sama dan sederajat dengan mesin-mesin kota. Semua orang sibuk di dalam pikirannya masing-masing. Mereka tenggelam dalam lamunan. Rutinitas untuk bisa selamat menjadi sesuatu yang wajib dimiliki setiap orang di era sekarang ini.

Besides keeping themselves occupied with activities there is always a nagging fear of uncertainty: What will happen? You can hardly sleep that night cause you’re nervous, you’re doing something that most people would walk away from. You know the storm is coming. I was shaking so badly I could not light a cigarette. All kinds of stuff crosses your mind. It’s kind of hard to summarize it, because it can be a variety of things, and thoughts can come on as sort of quick flashes too. These can be totally random, and sometimes just plain odd. We became ghosts.


Semua menantikan perubahan tetapi tidak siap dengan konsekuensi perubahan tersebut. Mungkin mereka hanya jengah sesaat dan berharap perubahan akan membawa kemudahan bagi mereka. Tetapi mungkin tidak, pada dasarnya setiap perubahan sudah mempunyai target kepuasan konsumen masing-masing. Sehingga alangkah tidak bijaknya kita berharap pada perubahan yang dijanjikan. Kembali pada rumusan bahwa setiap hal sudah ditentukan jauh sebelum hal tersebut menjadi nyata. Di dalam keabstrakan warna dan kebijaksanaan dalam setiap aksara kita dibuat terbang tinggi menuju entah apa namanya. 


Malam sebelum pertunjukan!

Sesaat lagi kita akan menjadi bagian dari sebuah peristiwa budaya kecil di mana semua lakon akan menceritakan betapa bosannya keseharian kita dan betapa keseharian sedang diperjualbelikan demi menghibur masyarakat. Kita sudah terlalu terpukau dengan mereka yang mengambil keuntungan dari cerita-cerita sedih. Internet membuka mata masyarakat tentang betapa menyedihkan negara ini tetapi juga internet membuka celah bagi mereka yang kehilangan fondasi kehidupannya untuk beraspirasi terhadap ketidakadilan sambil melakukan pelanggaran berat terhadap keadilan tersebut.

Kegelisahan datang merasuki kepalamu. Di dalamnya sudah terlampau banyak masalah kehidupan sehingga kau mungkin sudah tidak tahan. Matamu beku menatap langit-langit kamarmu. Kosong.

Tumpukan puntung rokok di asbak menjadi saksi bisu betapa engkau menginginkan hari esok tidak perlu datang. Jantungmu berdegup kencang dan keringat meluncur deras dari kepala hingga kakimu. Dingin yang kau rasakan bukan karena suhu di kamarmu tetapi tubuhmu terus memaksakan dirinya menjadi dingin ketika hal yang paling kau butuhkan adalah kehangatan. Tubuhmu tidak bisa lagi merasakan apapun. Kepalamu penuh terisi dengan propaganda kebahagiaan yang entah betul atau tidak.Apakah kehidupan akan jauh lebih baik ketika kita dipaksa untuk menjadi tidak nyata? Apalah artinya bagi dunia jika satu orang tidak penting ini menghilang begitu saja?

Jika memang dunia ini diciptakan untuk kita semua lalu mengapa banyak yang beigtu tersiksa menjalani kehidupan di dunia? Apakah kita semua ini adalah hasil pertempuran antara kebaikan dan kejahatan? Bukankah nilai-nilai yang sudah ditanamkan dalam diri kita sejak kita lahir ini seharusnya melahirkan buah-buah kebajikan? Lalu mengapa derita yang kita tuai?

Besok adalah hari besar!

Kembali kau merenungkan tentang masa muda dan dunia ketika semuanya baik-baik saja. Betapa menyenangkan masa mudamu dan betapa kesulitan dengan begitu mudah bisa ditaklukkan. Nongkrong, bicara tentang musik dan film, menikmati udara yang tidak terlalu segar, semua bercanda, semua bahagia, memulai karir dengan penuh semangat, dan pada akhirnya satu per satu menghilang ditelan bumi.

Pikiranmu kembali melayang mengingat hal-hal buruk yang terlah kau perbuat dan bagaimana rasanya terhukum abadi akibat apa yang telah engkau perbuat. Bukankah kita seharusnya telah ditebus dosanya dengan darah? Apakah layak dirimu ditebus? Layakkah dirimu diselamatkan? Bukankah besok seharusnya engkau akan kembali menghadap DIA yang menciptakan dirimu dan siap merangkul dirimu ke sebuah tempat di mana derita dan beban dunia tidak lagi berlaku? Seharusnya bahagia dirimu.

 

Ada yang pernah berkata bahwa surga dan neraka hanyalah sebuah konsep. Kita adalah makhluk yang mampu menentukan di mana surga dan neraka kita. Pilihan ada di tanganmu. Surga dan neraka dapat kau nikmati selagi kau hidup karena setelah kau mati tidak ada lagi pilihan. Semua akan berhitung tentang betapa baiknya diri mereka ketika mereka masih bernapas di dunia. 


Kau mulai mengutuki dirimu sendiri. Berharapa kalau besok tiba-tiba kiamat datang. Berharap bahwa besok sebuah asteroid besar menabrak Bumi dan semua yang ada di dalamnya akan hancur lebur berantakan. Besok hari besar, kawan! Hari di mana mereka yang sudah menghakimimu secara duniawi akan melaksanakan tugas suci mereka memberantas mereka yang dianggap tidak sejalan dengan peraturan yang dibuat oleh segelintir manusia. 

Besok...ragamu akan hilang tetapi idemu akan bertahan abadi di dunia. Karena seperti yang sudah tertulis dalam sebuah catatan: "Dari dalam kubur suaraku akan jauh lebih keras terdengar!"

Bersiap siagalah karena dari raga yang tertanam akan lahir mereka yang siap untuk melawan ketidakadilan di muka bumi ini.

Besok hari besar!

Photo by Valentin Salja on Unsplash
 


Little did they know...

January 07, 2024 Samuel Yudhistira

Budaya? Budaya yang mana? Yang gue tahu imbasnya di kebudayaan kita juga nyaris nihil. Kalaupun ada juga gak seberapa. Pada akhirnya semuanya itu diambil untuk kepentingan sendiri. Satu-satunya yang bertambah adalah achievement di LinkedIn.

Lo inget kan dulu ketika ada orang dari Korea tanya ke kita: Di Bekasi sudah ada listrik belum? Dari situ aja sudah ketahuan kalau sebegitu kecilnya pengetahuan tentang kondisi riil orang-orang di negara ini. 

Mereka itu cuma bounty hunter khusus validasi melalui jalan "prestasi." Pada akhirnya juga orang-orang yang lahir dari privilege yang punya akses ke sana. Akses itu privilege lho. Bahkan seperti yang kita pernah sepakati bersama, informasi juga privilege. Do you even need self validation? For what? Lo sudah sangat valid, my friend! 

Kasih ke gue list hal-hal yang lo anggap gak punya makna! Kita lihat satu-satu. Ujung-ujungnya juga lo tahu kalau sebenarnya lo sudah sangat jauh di atas semua itu. You keep being real! Susah lho..gak semua orang punya talenta dan energi sebesar itu.

IQ lo berapa? 130? Trus lo masih ngerasa goblok? Ohh..karena bukan pasukan elit ivy league college? Itu cuman label. Lagian lo udah kepinteran. Adil dikit lah! You don't need no education...Classes will numb your mind.

Pada akhirnya apa yang dilakukan oleh eksponen indie pop pada masanya adalah tentang kontrol diri. Lo gak bisa sejago itu? Yasudah. Bukan berarti itu batasan buat lo bikin karya kan? Karya lo gak kemana-mana? Lho..memang kenapa? Bukankah perlawanan kebudayan itu berawal dari lo menolak kemapanan? Kita gak punya tanggung jawab untuk meninggalkan warisan ke dunia ini. Buat apa? Ada 8 milyar manusia di dunia ini. Lo dan gue cuman...salah dua dari sekian banyak manusia di dunia ini. Capek pak kalau dituruti semua.

Pada akhirnya yang kamu lakukan adalah "mengganggu" pakem yang sudah ada dalam kesenian. Bukankah itu satu bentuk perlawanan? 

Pada akhirnya mereka berbicara tentang ketidakmerataan dan ketimpangan ketika masih "miskin" secara material dan ide. Jangan heran ketika mereka bersembunyi di balik tameng perlawanan untuk keuntungan dirinya sendiri. 

Dekonstruksi sastra! Itu dia! Kamu itu nulis bukan di komputer, mas! Tapi di mesin enigma. Cuma dirimu yang tahu makna sesungguhnya dan kamu lempar itu semua ke orang-orang yang baca supaya mereka bisa mengintepretasikan ide yang kamu tulis.

Holy shit! I love New Order!

Gak ada prentensi apapun!  Ini sebuah ekspresi yang paling murni! Gak semua orang punya kemampuan untuk mengartikan warna. Gak semua orang mampu untuk bermain dengan insting.

Bikin lagu cuman dua kunci dari awal sampai habis...gila lo!

Maksimalin apa yang ada! Ketika lo sound check trus lo liat ampli..monitor...mic..dan secara teknis gak sesuai nih dengan apa yang lo suka...apakah lo ngasal? Di situlah lo perlu pengetahuan teknis soal lapangan. Maksimalin! Pada akhirnya lo cuman pengen senang-senang toh?

Ini PUNK se PUNK PUNK nya PUNK!

Lo bisa berada di beberapa ekosistem yang berbeda bahkan bertolak belakang tapi lo mampu untuk beradaptasi di semua tempat. That is...an enviable reputation... 

Lo suka PIL yah? Gaya lo John Lydon banget..

Jangan kepinteran deh...pusing sendiri lo ntar.


PS: Jangan kira saya tidak ingat. :))

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Post War Movies

November 23, 2023 Samuel Yudhistira




Sudah lama sekali tidak menulis tentang film. Beberapa hari belakangan gue diberikan rekomendasi film dari seorang kawan. Filmnya Christian Petzold, seorang sutradara handal dari Jerman yang juga menyutradai film Barbara sama Toter Mann, both are great films! Karena penasaran gue coba untuk lihat trailer-nya lalu baca sinopsisnya. Hmm...menarik. Mungkin ke depannya akan mencoba buat cari filmnya. Btw, ada beberapa streaming services kalau mau lihat film-film Eropa atau film-film indie secara legal. Mungkin dibahas nanti. Kembali ke topik! Setelah gue membaca sinopsis filmnya, latar belakang cerita, terus juga trailer dari filmnya, gue malah teringat beberapa film yang pernah gue tonton. Okeh, jadi tema utama film Phoenix adalah kehidupan "post-war" di Jerman setelah Perang Dunia Kedua selesai. Bagaimana mereka yang selamat dari kerasnya perang ternyata masih harus "berperang" kembali di kehidupan bermasyarakat. 

Menarik. Gue selalu membayangkan (semoga tidak mengalami) kehidupan sosial, ekonomi, politik, dan banyak lainnya setelah melewati masa-masa kelam peperangan. Can you imagine? Life must be tough. For those who fought, death and destruction were very very common. Lalu tiba-tiba semua harus dibangun kembali dan menjadi manusia normal dalam society yang berbeda. Gak heran banyak yang depresi dan bingung ketika harus bergabung kembali dalam masyarakat.

Lalu gue teringat, kayaknya gue pernah nonton beberapa film dengan tema serupa atau mirip-miriplah kayak film Phoenix yang direkomendasikan teman gue ini. Berdasarkan ingatan gue yang gak bagus-bagus amat gue pengen coba berbagi beberapa film yang menurut gue lumayan oke dengan tema serupa. Because sometimes we glorify the madness of war and fail to understand what these men and women have gone through. 

Jujur, ini hanya berdasarkan ingatan gue. Kalau ada yang kelewat...ya mungkin emang gue belum nonton aja dan belum dapat akses buat nonton. Oh..This is not a review...I'm not an expert. I ain't passed the bar anyway. So, here they are:

Those Who Remained (Barnabás Tóth, Hungary, 2019)


Salah satu film yang diputar dalam event tahunan Europe on Screen, film ini kalau gak salah gue nonton di pagelaran tahun 2021. Film dari Hungaria yang menceritakan tentang dua orang yang selamat dari kamp konsentrasi dan menyadari kalau lingkungan mereka sudah tidak sama lagi karena nyaris semua orang yang mereka kenal sebelum perang sudah meninggal semua dan tinggal menyisakan mereka. Lumayan okelah, dapat sedikit gambaran tentang kondisi masyarakat di Hungaria pasca perang dan menjalani kehidupan di bawah pengaruh kuat Uni Soviet.



Frantz (François Ozon, France/Germany, 2016)


Okeh, this one...wew...unexpecting ending. Ini total remake sih emang karena memang film ini pada dasarnya adalah remake dari film Broken Lullaby (1932) yang disutradarai oleh Ernst Lubitsch yang juga adalah sebuah adaptasi dari karya teater Prancis dengan judul L'homme que j'ai tué karya Maurice Rostand. Gue nonton Broken Lullaby justru setelah gue nonton Frantz dan ternyata memang ada beberapa scene yang lumayan berbeda tapi malah jadi lebih okelah. Inti ceritanya adalah seorang mantan tentara Prancis yang datang ke Jerman setelah Perang Dunia I berakhir di mana kondisi politik Jerman pada kala itu setelah kalah perang cukup kacau dan sentimen anti Prancis sedang marak. Salah satu hal yang menurut gue lumayan keren adalah keputusan untuk membuat film ini ditayangkan tanpa warna (black & white) yang bikin berasa nonton film lama...yaah mayan okelaah mendengar dialog orang Prancis ngomong bahasa Jerman terus orang Jerman ngomong bahasa Prancis. hehehe...oiya versi aslinya juga gak kalah oke kok kalau mau ditonton.

Warning: Endingnya ngehe! hehe


The War (Jon Avnet, USA, 1994)


Gue masih ingat betul nonton film ini barengan bokap nyokap gue di rumah. Ini film yang lumayan menarik tentang seorang veteran perang yang mengalami banyak kegagalan akibat kondisi mentalnya yang gak stabil pasca bertugas di Vietnam. Banyak scene yang lumayan moving buat gue. Salah satu film yang membuat gue ingat sama bokap senantiasa (RIP to you, old man!) selain karena gue pertama kali nonton film ini sama beliau dan juga film ini banyak cerita tentang hubungan bapak dan anak laki-lakinya. Elijah Wood masih bocah banget di film ini...


Land of Mine/Under sandet (Martin Zandvliet, Denmark/Germany, 2015)


Based on true event. Yeah, salah satu cerita pahit setelah Perang Dunia II berakhir di mana para tawanan perang dipaksa untuk membersihkan ranjau di pesisir pantai Denmark. Most of the POWs were boys...dan faktanya memang banyak dari mereka yang akhirnya mortally wounded atau bahkan tewas ketika membersihkan ranjau. It's a great film...a depressed one..ketika perang sudah selesai tapi anak-anak muda ini masih harus bertanggung jawab atas sesuatu yang mungkin mereka juga gak paham.



Born on the Fourth of July (Oliver Stone, USA, 1989)


Again, Oliver Stone...sutradara yang bertanggung jawab memberikan kita banyak sekali film-film bagus. Salah satunya yaa film ini. Diadaptasi dari memoir yang ditulis oleh Ron Kovic, salah satu aktivis anti perang dari Amerika Serikat yang memang mengalami kelumpuhan ketika terluka di Perang Vietnam. Kita benar-benar dibawa dari optimisme anak muda sampe cynical orang yang sudah mengalami peperangan itu sendiri. A very moving film...sedih sih...Memoir dari Ron Kovic dengan judul yang sama juga bagus banget buat dibaca..Btw, Tom Cruise keren sih di film ini.





The Railway Man (Jonathan Teplitzky, UK/Australia/Switzerland/France)


Diadaptasi dari memoir yang cukup terkenal mengisahkan tentang tawanan perang di Pasifik yang dipaksa untuk membangun rel kereta untuk Jepang. Kisah Eric Lomax yang akhirnya mengkonfrontasi serdadu Jepang yang dulu menyiksa dia setelah tahu kalau serdadu Jepang tersebut masih hidup ini lumayan membuat emosi naik turun. Berbagai jenis bentuk penyiksaan dan kondisi para tawanan yang dipaksa membangun rel kereta membuat kita berpikir: Wew...that's what a human could do to another human. Colin Firth was absolutely great in this movie walau gue masih kebayang-bayang karakter dia di film "King's Speech" hehehe...



Great Freedom (Sebastian Meise, Austria, 2022)


Untuk konteks tambahan, film dokumenter "Paragraph 175" bisa lumayan menjelaskan kondisi orang-orang homosexual yang dikirim ke kamp konsentrasi di Jerman dan wilayah-wilayah yang ditaklukkan Jerman pada masa Perang Dunia II. Di film ini dijelaskan kondisi mereka yang masih dianggap melakukan pelanggaran hukum karena Paragraph 175 belum dihapuskan pasca Perang Dunia II sehingga semua hubungan sesama jenis dianggap sebagai perbuatan kriminal. Di film ini kita diajak untuk melihat sisi yang selama ini mungkin jarang dibicarakan atau susah untuk dilihat. Yeap, sisi mereka yang dikriminilasi karena orientasi seksual. Endingnya menarik buat gue. Menarik untuk dilihat karena Paragraph 175 yang resmi menjadi statuta hukum di tahun 1871 baru dihapus tahun 1994, sementara Jerman Timur (DDR) sudah menghapus undang-undang tersebut di tahun 1968.



The Reader (Stephen Daldry, Germany/USA, 2008)


Inspired by a real life person. Film ini lumayan menarik karena pada akhirnya ketika identitas asli dan masa lalu seseorang yang kita sayang terbongkar sudah pasti kita bakalan kaget. Bercerita tentang kondisi Jerman pasca Perang Dunia II di mana banya kolaborator dan mereka yang dahulu melakukan kejahatan di masa perang mengalami persidangan. Mungkin adegan persidangan baru muncul di pertengahan film tetapi di awal kita akan melihat hubungan antara tokoh utama dengan seorang wanita yang usianya terpaut sangat jauh dan mungkin berpikir: Hmm, kayak ada yang aneh sama orang ini. 

It's a great movie! Temanya mungkin gak berat-berat banget tapi lumayan menarik karena memberikan kita sudut pandang yang baru tentang kehidupan, pola pikir, dan bagaimana generasi baru Jerman pasca Perang Dunia II melihat kejahatan yang dilakukan oleh generasi sebelumnya.



Au revoir là-haut (Albert Dupontel, France, 2017)


Merupakan adapatasi dari novel karya Pierre Lemaitre dengan judul yang sama. Gue direkomendasikan film ini oleh salah satu kawan dan ternyata lumayan menarik. Kisahnya tentang seorang prajurit Prancis yang terluka di era Perang Dunia I dan harus menjalani operasi yang membuat dia kehilangan sebagian besar wajahnya. Dengan ketidakmampuan dia untuk bicara dan harus menggunakan topeng untuk menutupi luka permanen di wajahnya si tokoh utama film ini pada akhirnya menjalin pertemanan dengan seorang gadis kecil dan salah satu orang yang menyelamatkan dirinya di kala pertempuran berlangsung. Profiteering pasca perang memang lumayan jarang dibahas dalam tulisan ataupun film dan di film ini lumayan banyak menyinggung tentang sebagian orang yang memanfaatkan kekacauan administrasi pas perang besar demi keuntungannya sendiri. A great movie!




Johnny Got His Gun (Dalton Trumbo, USA, 1971)




It's one of the best anti war films ever made! Di film ini banyak banget scene yang sangat memorable buat gue ketika pertama kali menyaksikkan film ini. Mungkin salah satu yang mendorong film ini naik ke pop culture ketika dipakai sama Metallica untuk video klip lagu mereka yang judulnya One. Kalau boleh jujur film ini lumayan "mengganggu" buat gue karena saking banyaknya scene yang haunting. Gue sampe kepikiran kalau kondisi gue sampe begitu gimana yee...Hadeh...Since it's an anti war movie jadinya memang banyak pesan mengenai betapa peperangan itu meaningless dan cuman membawa keuntungan bagi sebagian kecil orang. Salah satu quote film ini yang masih membuat gue bergidik ketika menyaksikan film ini kembali:

Inside me, I'm screaming and yelling and howling like a trapped animal... and nobody pays any attention. If I had arms, I could kill myself. If I had legs, I could run away. If I had a voice, I could talk and be some kind of company for myself. I could yell for help, but nobody would help me.




Un long dimanche de fiançailles (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France/USA, 2004)


Film ini menjadi salah satu film favorit gue sepanjang masa. Gak tahu yah, coloring dan movement film-film Prancis pasca suksesnya film Amélie keknya mengubah trend dalam cerita, editting, dan warna di film. Gue merasa cerita di film ini sangat-sangat oke sekali. You have the humour, battle scenes, love, and desperation dalam satu film. Buat gue film ini fantastis! Again, kebayang betapa kacau balaunya administrasi sebuah negara setelah perang berakhir banyak diceritakan di film ini. And you know what, this movie taught me about love. Ketika orang-orang banyak yang skeptis, cynical, bahkan menjatuhkan, tapi kalau lo tetap percaya dan fight for it, who knows, mungkin aja ada jalan.

And again...the ending...



Ladri di biciclette (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948)


Kalau bicara tentang Italian Neorealism mungkin film ini adalah salah satu film di garda terdepan. Diadaptasi dari novel karya Cesare Zavattini, film ini benar-benar membuat gue kagum dengan teknik pengambilan gambar dan ceritanya. Vittorio De Sica punya banyak banget film bagus terutama di era pergerakan Neorealism. Kalau gue ditanya film favorit gue sepanjang masa apa gue pasti dengan cepat akan menjawab: Ladri di biciclette...Film ini menceritakan tentang kondisi Italia pasca Perang Dunia II di mana pada era pas Perang Dunia II kondisi Italia secara politik dan ekonomi super duper berantakan. Di film ini ada banyak sekali scenes yang membuat gue terharu...how a dad is willing to fight for the sake of his family..aduh sedih deh pokoke...dan di akhir film...ahhh lihat sendiri! Kalau bicara soal film ini gue gak bisa berhenti karena banyak banget hal yang gue ambil dan layak didiskusikan.





***

Sebenarnya masih banyak banget sih film-film dengan tema post war yang pernah gue tonton dan mungkin akan gue tonton lagi. List di atas gue buat berdasarkan ingatan semata dan seru aja euy, dah lama gak bahas-bahas fim...hehehe... Beberapa film post war yang gue suka juga tapi gak gue breakdown di atas tuh kayak Werk ohne Autor (2018), Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), Barbara (2008), Die Ehe der Maria Braun (1978), Germania anno zero (1948), dan Umberto D. (1952). Mungkin bakalan gue bahas selanjutnya setelah gue nonton Phoenix yah, hehe...at last...after the war...winners take nothing.


A Letter to Sunshine

November 09, 2023 Samuel Yudhistira





Dear Sunshine,


It is with the utmost warmth and delight that I take quill in hand to address you, the radiant celestial being that graces our earthly abode. As I stand under your benevolent gaze, I am compelled to express the profound sentiments that stir within my soul upon the sight of your golden countenance.


And as the evening approaches, your descent beneath the distant hills heralds the onset of a gentle gloaming, painting the sky with an opulent palette of colors that would humble even the finest artistry. Your departure is not a farewell but a promise, a promise that you shall return with the dawn, illuminating our lives with your eternal presence.


We met for a reason. It's a cliche, of course. But who doesn't love to romantize all the ordinary things around us into something that is quite extravagant? I still remember it, the whole scene, the bowls of noodles we shared, the line that we waited in, and the small/big talks we poured. Those hours will be treasured in my memory for the rest of my life. Moreover, my last day in Yogyakarta was spent beautifully with you as well. As we walked through the gallery, gazing around the artworks, and laughing when we found something funny. You've been such a special friend to me. Someone that out of the blue came into my life and shone a light in my darkest hour. Dozens of special ways to end my endeavor in your city, and I choose to end it with you by my side. It's such an honour meeting someone as kind as you are, Sunshine. Yes, you are the sunshine. How can someone as kind as you be harmed?


The one last night in Yogyakarta. That was too special for me. A little bit emotional since I was currently in a very bad state both physically and mentally. Believe it or not, you were there. You gave me reasons to stay in and never give in. And to that end, I am so grateful that we've met.


Remember all the things that I've told you about how wonderful you are no matter what people may have said. No matter what happened in the past, in my book, you are still number one. Life is strange, indeed! We mismeasure things, for sure. We made bad decisions. We accepted love we thought we deserved. The night has opened my eyes about how I should see things. Darkness is a friend, because sometimes you will see the light in the dark. I always think about you every day. You are so precious and you have to understand that you have made a huge impact in my whole life. Thank you for helping me get back on my feet and challenge life. It's a never-ending boxing match between me and myself. 


No matter what, I thank you for all the things you've done for me. I don't know how to reply to those magnificent things, but I will be one day. Trust me!


And for you, your existence is a beacon of hope, a metaphor for resilience, and a testament to the undeniable beauty that graces our world. On your ever-revolving journey, you etch a tale of constancy and reliability, a narrative that mankind has revered and relied upon since time immemorial.



This is my letter to you with fervent admiration and an indomitable spirit of gratitude,



I'll see you soon in your city!


Yours faithfully,


Manifesto

November 02, 2023 Samuel Yudhistira

I politely asked her about her point of view without discriminating against her: How does it feel? Did you ever encounter any rejection, discrimination, or other bad things? 

The virus may live on, but the stigma kills you. 


In the small room with a very strong cat scent mixed with tobacco, we are talking about matters of life and death. How a very thin line, an unseen thing may unfold before our eyes and change our lives in a split of a second. I was fascinated by her story. We've seen the deaths of friends before and death is no longer our biggest fear. You know suffering more than I do. I can't relate even to the smallest part of your misery. Maybe if I shut my eyes, your sorrow will be split between us.  


Did you ever feel like living in hell? Or maybe hell is the impossibility of reason. Gasping, dying, but somehow still alive. How did you react when you heard about the test? Did you ever think about ending your own life? How did you manage to survive the ordeal?


Art keeps you alive. Art makes you important. You turn your misery, tormented life, and pain into something beautiful, a bit provocative, but honest. 


That might not be living, but it sure ain't dying. And dying is what these people have been doing for years. Dying for everyone. I don't believe in another world. This is the only world we have. My body is aching. My mind is a terrible thing to taste. Can't you see? The proof's in the eye. You know when you know. Nobody's gonna get caught red-handed as an evident. Because we don't need one. Being born into this world was a grave mistake. All of us; we are not busy being born; we are busy dying. It's written on the wall: The die has been cast. Do you ever think you're better than the other men? No? Rich in love, poor in gifts. Poor in gifts, rich in love. If that's what justice is, I'd rather be hung in city hall.


Three simple letters that will haunt you for the rest of your life. You will lose your freedom, love, joy, and all the goodness and happiness in this world. Just by those three letters. Four letters and all you know is death. Sometimes, I do believe in higher power whenever I lay my head in bed. I think about what will happen after they put me to rest, six feet under, inside a casket, among the mourners (if there's any!). What I believe is I will be in a non-dimensional white room with no border nor dark and all I can do is wait for the end of the world. The end of time. 


Does your condition make you more aware of your religious beliefs? Does it make you closer to God? Does it make you believe in a higher power? I wonder...


There's something running in my blood. You can't see it. It's eating you alive. There you have it. The end. Contagious and deadly. Does it always look like that? Damnation with no relief. I didn't ask for this thing to come to me, neither my friend. All we wanted was to have fun and get away with it. What is it I must do to pay for all my crimes? My life is like a sinking ship, and I know where to jump. Walk the plank, close my eyes, jump into the water, and let me sink. I envy those who can enjoy the world without risk. Those you...let's just say...normal. I had my luck escape. Now I'm a fugitive. I'm running away from the ghosts of my past. Thank you for being such a good friend. Thank you for not being a judgemental son of a bitch. 


Life is strange, indeed. You'll never know what the future may bring to you. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's killing you slowly and painfully. Sometimes it's filled with enormous, unlimited joy, where you can always need more and never want it to end so soon. 


I wrote my imaginative eulogy. Hell, some folk even wrote me one. Now I realize that nobody's gonna really care about your absence. Life keeps on turning even without your existence. I once had this fear of not creating something pretty while I'm still alive. To this day, I still haven't figured it out what would become of me. I don't know, man...If you read this from above: I envy you. My God, how I want to exchange my place with you. You have...many people who love you so much, purposes, talents, and all the love in this damn world. I have no one. I envy you. You feel no more pain, sorrow, self-loathing, and all the nightmares the world has ignited inside you. 






Ecclesiastes 11:19

"Rejoice O young man in thy youth…." 




Broken Arrow!

October 14, 2023 Samuel Yudhistira
There's beauty in it...

Short days ago we lived, saw sunset glow, loved, and were loved. Now we lie in the field of doubt. Now we are sinking into a sea of lies. These magnificent men in their magnificent machines. Where are they going? 

We could plan a mass murder or worse...start a religion! It's Catholic heaven, man! I have an ancient Indian crucifix around my neck. My chest is hard & brown. Lying on stained & wretched sheets with a bleeding virgin. Here I go again, focused on myself again. Thinking, endless thinking. Suicides, death of grandmas, tragedies, plane crashes, hunger, tension, road rage, school, birth of a legend, past loves. We are the victims of a passionate crime called love. 

I have built a treehouse. Nobody can see us. It's a you and me house. 

The saddest thing about betrayal is that it comes from those who you trust the most. It must be painful to watch as the betrayal unfolds beyond our eyes. How do we lose all the good that was given to us?

Karena pada akhirnya keserakahan pula yang akan kita membawa kita ke jurang kesadaran. Kita menggali lebih dalam kuburan kita sendiri sampai tidak tercium bau busuknya. Sesekali tengoklah ke belakang dan lihat betapa manusia bisa melakukan apa saja terhadap manusia lainnya. Kita dibuat sadar bahwa semua kualitas bisa terhitung dengan angka dan segala kuantitas akan berubah karena pengaruh kata.Terkadang kita lupa kalau raga ini begitu rapuh dan jiwa begitu mudah menguap seiring berjalannya waktu. Nasib sial terus hidup untuk mereka yang hidup dalam kebohongan. 

Ketika foto-foto penuh kemudaan kita akan menjadi foto tua usang berisi kenangan di situlah kita sadar bahwa sudah banyak yang berubah dalam kehidupan kita. Sebagian hilang, sebagian lupa arah, sebagian memilih menetap, dan sebagian menerima hidup baru. 

Mari sini, manisku! 
Merapat dekat denganku. 
Kita adalah mereka yang sedang bahagia
Kita adalah mereka yang sedang dimabuk asmara

Pernah tertulis bahwa kita harus bertanggung jawab atas setiap keputusan yang kita ambil dalam hidup. Ada masa ketika kita saling menunggu satu dengan yang lain untuk berbicara dengan Tuhan-nya masing-masing. Ada masa ketika kita larut dalam pertanyaan mengapa kita dipertemukan. Ada masa ketika jarak dan pantangan memutus rantai persaudaraan. Ada masa ketika diri ini hilang arah dan terbangun dalam keadaan pasrah penuh penyesalan.

Kalau memang semua sudah seharusnya terjadi dan memang ditakdirkan untuk terjadi seperti demikian maka sebaiknya kita menerima saja dan menikmati semuanya dengan lapang dada. We were stars, heroes of our stories, and villains in their stories. 


Into this house, we're born
Into this world, we're thrown

Menyerahlah pada kuasa yang memang sudah semestinya menjadi hak mereka yang punya nyali tapi minim rasa malu. Kita semua harus sadar kalau pada dasarnya (sekali lagi harus saya sampaikan!) kita hidup dalam dunia dengan sistem kelas. Beberapa dari kita senang hidup dalam kenyamanan dan kesenangan buatan dan ada dari kita yang iri akan kepalsuan tersebut. Berterima kasihlah pada internet karena informasi sama mudahnya diterima seperti kita menghirup oksigen. Ketika waktu tercipta kita semua sudah digariskan secara sempurna dan melawan kesempurnaan adalah perbuatan yang menyenangkan walau sia-sia. 

Sejarah adalah tentang pengkhianatan.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.





,

Life's Quick, You're Slow!

September 30, 2023 Samuel Yudhistira

Jakarta, 22 September 2023


Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves?
And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?
And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul?
And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?

Once upon a time miles away from where you seated a man with a broken soul lived with his vivid anger upon the world. He never spoke about his fears. He rarely spoke about himself. He made people laugh with his outgoing personality. He lied to everyone about how happy he was. He lied to himself about how he could overcome his painful life. He is a liar. His broken thoughts involuntarily took the best of him. He stayed all night to ensure that life would be so kind for a moment. It was impossible to stop, impossible to go back, and impossible to close his eyes or avoid seeing that there was nothing ahead but suffering and real death...complete annihilation. 

Steady yourself! Courage! 

Today or tomorrow sickness and death will come (they had come already) to those I love or to me; nothing will remain but stench and worms. Sooner or later my affairs, whatever they may be, will be forgotten, and I shall not exist. Then why go on making any effort?... How can man fail to see this? And how go on living? That is what is surprising! One can only live while one is intoxicated with life; as soon as one is sober it is impossible not to see that it is all a mere fraud and a stupid fraud! That is precisely what it is: there is nothing either amusing or witty about it, it is simply cruel and stupid.

No confession is holy no more. There's no such a thing. We may have confessed our sins to men but deep inside we may hide our biggest ones. The ones that we refuse to say it out loud. Isn't it an irony to have God's representatives in the world to hear and legitimize our confessions? I don't believe them. They are as sinful as I am. Those are all words with no meaning, for in the infinite is neither complex nor simple, no forward nor backward, or better or worse.

The art of shredding...

Should I lid another pill? I think I should. It's funny when caffeine works together with these substance in creating such a beautiful journey to the world I've always wanted. I used to call it a funny trip. It ends way too soon most of the times so I need to regain another one just to make sure I'm in the right way. Screaming in anguish...Pantera on my old stereo deck...Phil's voice brings back so many good and bad memories of my life. All of the sudden I feel warm liquid streaming through my left arm..it's blood...blood stains my shirt and the floor below me. I don't give a damn about it. All I want to do is just enjoying the moment where I live in. The trip is the destination. The raw power! I feel more live than death. Can you feel me? I take my old Converse and write on it: VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER in honour for my favourite quartet in this world of shit. These brown-red stains? Forget them! I can see beauty in pain and when I do, I feel infinite. When I'm rushing on my run and I feel like Jesus' son.

My heart beats like crazy. I take a look at the mirror and start talking to myself. This is it! This is the, beautiful friend! This is the end! Please make sure they'll put my favorite tees on me. I don't wanna be another casual looser in my casket. Please put The Doors on my funeral and let them talk about how they think they know me. All these people, they are the ones killing me.

I woke up at the hospital again.

 ālea iacta est 

Let's go back a little bit, shall we? To the time where we had no point of return in life. This is the biggest decision in your life that will put you in a position where you can't turn around a go back to the start. You imagine the great Roman emperor, Julius Caesar when he stood at the bank of Rubicon river. He knew he had to march his soldiers back to Rome but many of his legions allegedly advice the emperor not to cross the Rubicon. Yeah, people always have their counter opinion to every move that you will take either for bad or good. This one's no different. This great image of yourself in distress appears every time you go to bed. You can't barely breathing. You have to take an action against all odds. And so it begins. And end to a new beginning. The die has been cast. Take a step now, my son! Your dues are paid with blood and sweats. Those wasted youths are made for you to be a reminder of how a mistake can affected your life severely, joyously, and beautifully. 


...from the cradle to the Garden of Eros....

In the corner of my room there laid the Great Sphinx starring at me with her lustrous eyes. Watching every move I made. She will remain outwardly beautiful while she commits fouls and evil deeds. The world loves her but not the nature. The world keeps her as a trophy while nature despise her with disgust. Don't get fooled by her nature but please be aware of her world. She offers you lust but you need life. You choose life, aren't you? A choice you made several years ago. Did something happen between you and her? Yes. 

The hidden secret of eternal bliss
Known to the Grecian here a man might find,
Ah! you and I may find it now if Love and Sleep be kind.

They were indeed very kind but deadly as poison. When love and hate collide, your confusions erupted, creating one of the great turbulences in your life. Lust was a lie. Love was temporary. Sadness will be forever stay in your heart. Her sacrifice is hiding in a lie. The biggest upset is coming to your heart. No one will ever fill the void unless you want to. Say hello to sertraline, oxalate, SSRI, hexymer, and fridep to temporarily hold you from doing all the things in life you'd like to.

La gloria di colui che tutto move per l'universo penetra,

 e risplende in una parte più e meno altrove.


A hostage to kindness from the cradle to the grave.

Enak banget lu! Tumpahin semua ke dunia lalu menikmati candu kenyamanan tanpa harus susah payah. Gak bayar pajak, cicilan, tagihan, dan iuran barang sepeserpun. Bukankah tidak menjadi adil kalau satu dari seribu mendapatkan kenyamanan tanpa kesusahan sementara yang lainnya makan lumpur tanah? Itukah versi adil surgawi? Menang lotere kehidupan namanya! Sudah saatnya kita nyalakan kembali obor revolusi dan ganyang mereka yang hidup nyaman! Ayo! Maju! Serbu! Serang!


Sementara mereka menjerit di terik panas berharap didengar, tidak jauh dari tempat mereka berteriak sebagian besar orang-orang dari golongan serupa nampak bersantai ria menikmati sejuk rimbun pohon petaka yang lebat daunnya, nikmat buahnya. Mereka tidak peduli. Buat apa harus peduli? Bukankah hidup hanya sekali ini saja? Jangan dihabiskan untuk membela hak yang tidak jelas asalnya dan menjalankan kewajiban yang tidak jelas akhirnya.

Petaka adalah berkah terselubung yang sangat bisa dinikmati kalau kalian tahu cara paling tepat untuk mengolahnya.

Sang Bandar besar nampak tertawa terpingkal-pingkal melihat tingkah polah konyol mereka yang berusaha memenangkan lotere dunia karena gagal dalam lotere kehidupan. Lotere dunia masih bisa didapatkan asalkan kalian punya persistensi  dan kegigihan tingkat tinggi. Keahlian nomor sekian, yang penting tahan banting! Begitulah jaminan Sang Bandar kelas kakap yang tanpa umbar malu menggagahi moral mereka yang bertekuk lutut menghadap ke atas mengejar gemerlap yang entah dari mana datangnya.

Suara-suara berlalu dan tetaplah begitu sampai mereka yang sudah ada di langit membuat langit runtuh karena sudah kepenuhan kapasitas. Jika itu semua terjadi maka terlambat sudah...mereka yang hidup di neraka akan masuk neraka kembali. Selamat datang keadilan!






,

...perfect love is like a blossom that fades so quick...

September 20, 2023 Samuel Yudhistira


I don't love you, I never was. Maybe I was just too lonely and miserable. It wasn't love at all. You misjudged my feelings. But, that's OK! I just need a company anyway. You hate the glitters in the world. I love to be an exhibit in the museum of lust. One that will be paraded as a trophy in the hands of men. Isn't it an ironic thing? A fool, that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. Who wrote that line? Fitzgerald, right? I don't need no more struggle. I've already had few in my big pocket. I wanna be able to find happiness and comfortably in this superficiality that you will never be able to provide. 

Don't you love all the designer's? 

The harder it is to pronounced, the more you can't afford it. That's what I like. Yes, I am that one lady bossing around to hide my insecurities. Is there any woman out there who are proud of their flaws and willing to embrace the fullness of life? I don't think so. I went to finest school only to get juiced in it. I tasted freedom in a small district of their western hemisphere only to prove a point that I ain't no better than the other folks. A small portion of a dictator's named airport will be forever living in my unknown live. Then I went to some wacky foundation where all the corrupted money would be laundered in a very noble way. I am a subject. I sacrifice my intellectual and intelligence depth to be something I am not just for the sake of societal expectations. 

That's my life at a glance. What do you know about freedom? Liberty? Equality? Fraternity? Boy, you know nothing at all. What do you read? Verlaine? Saint-Exupéry? Camus? Balzac? Those are for uncultured swine like you. Arthur Rimbaud? What are you? A fatalistic? You know nothing about art anyway. You just love to recite these sewer born poets and think that you know more than others. I was there. I spoke the language. I saw the people. There weren't like what you may think.


Bandung, West Java, 2021

We sat down in a bench nearby. My shirt was soaked with sweat. You brought a bottle of mineral water and I started to rant about the weather. I hate factory visit and so are you. Your awkward smile and laugh made me a little bit warm inside. You asked me to unbutton my shirt due to the heat which I refused sporadically. You asked me why do I always wear a long-sleeve shirt even when it's hot outside. And I said to you that I hid something under my shirt. Some heart-torn scars that might scare the hell out of you. You wanted to see them. So I folded my shirt and you see them scars carved on my arms. 

"Well...those are battle scars. Scars that are proving a point to you," she said.

"What's the point of all these "battle scars" you've mentioned," I asked her again with a grinning smile. 

"That you've been through hell and managed to survive...and then we met in a very weird coincidence," 

"Yeah...you're right,"


The Tell-Tale Stories of Someone in a Hiding

Are we all the heroes of our own stories? Whatever decisions we made we'd manage to slay the vicious dragon in a castle and take our priceless chest. It's a tale of terror and detection. It's our story. Along the way you'd meet some random people, thieves, betrayers, kind people, any kind of people the world has to offered. 

Do you wanna live forever in your hiding? The liberty you've found is abducting you from yourself. You are someone else. Beware of enthusiasm and love. Each is temporary and quick to sway. It's king for king and queen for queen. The perfection of love is creating a huge amount of imagination that someday might kill you. It's like a blossom that fades so quick. If someone ever told you to look at yourself, well, never look. 

Success is rather inconceivable at first but you have so many ardent admirers of your stories. They could conjure all the hard knocks of your rough and tumble stories. Words like violence, break the silence. They are sometimes meaningless. Come crashing in into my little world. Can't you understand? Nature's a language, can't you read? All these conventional, pompous societies are denying our true struggle. The way you play with words is slightly dangerous. Barely anarchy. 

*Is it illegal to let these kids ruling the dancefloor?*

Di dalam kesendirian manusia terkadang mampu untuk melihat menembus dinding-dinding nalar. Dikoyak-koyak sepi. Gelap adalah teman sejati. Dia tidak akan menilaimu dari wujud yang diwariskan secara genetik kepadamu. Di dalam kesunyian manusia menjadi abadi. Meninggalkan raga dan terbang ke udara menjadi sama seperti mereka yang dahulu pernah ada. Menjadi tidak terlihat adalah sebuah kemujuran.

In a room far far away from the people who don't care if you live die you laid yourself on the bed. Smoke, lamps out! You are gazing onto emptiness. Dry blood, sweat, and other unwanted fluids soaked on the bed. Your dull jack knife wasn't reliable. The artificial happiness that you set the other night wasn't enough to fill the huge void inside your head. You looked at yourself in the mirror of the big armoire beside the bed . . . Of all the ways to be wounded. Suppose it was a funny one. You are a fugitive but you don't know what you're running from. You just want to run away from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.

*The ideas of a big revolution against the upper class are roaming inside your head. Why should one become the ruler of all people?*

Hours and hours wasted. Who will survive? Will we make it alive? The fakest ones are the safest ones. Those who insist to be themselves completely will annihilated completely, wiped out from this world. Will you give yourself to this fake surrender? You are forced to be someone you are not. In this dire situation you will find those who are true to what the believed in and those who are opportunistic enough and give in. 

It's better to be burned than to fade away.

It's easier to run replacing the pain with something numb. Now look! We are on the top of this mountain. There are high white clouds above our heads. We sit here, absorbing the energy of our surroundings. Soon it'll be clear enough that we both are one piece of a war torn individual seeking for inner peace. We are one, a unity, one solid form of human desperate to find the meaning of life. Maybe they're right, the journey is the destination. 

In this place of no mercy you're asking yourself these questions:

"What does it take for a man to lose his dignity? How far can he fall to pay the price of survival? How long can he fly with his broken wings? Is this darkness in you too? Are you righteous? Kind? Why did it happen to you, to us all? Who are we?"

We are the grunts. That's what they call us. Grunts. Those who are willing to do anything for a piece of bread, a full plate of rice. Those who are willing to get their hands dirty. Those who came from gutter and sewer. Those who are just a bunch of unknown nobody. Those who have nowhere to go. No sparks nor light. We are just a few lucky grunts. 

No one will affected by our absence. Our graves will be unmarked without tombs that are carved with a phrase of bible and all the good things. Commoner is just another way of naming us. People die everyday. Nobody's special...especially us. When you are living to die every minute is an eternity. Days are lost, months blend into one another and the only reality you know is in the moment. And moment hangs you over like death. Take a feisty good look around you. What did you see, beside despair and desperation? 

Some people rely on their academic experience to survive, some with their family's wealth and possessions, and some people use their animalistic instincts to live. It amazes me...the will of instinct. It brings us humans to the time where you don't have to leave your house and to face the reality. 

Who's mocking us? Calling us names whatsoever and laughing hysterically in a thin air.

In death there is no second chance. It's dark...cold. So that's what you think about when you die: the real value of all you've done with your life and all that you might have done. If only you'd had a second chance. Life doesn't wait for an individual, especially life as a common people. You have to do it on your own unless you have mate to pick you up when you fall.

But in the world of shit, in this hiding place, you have no one to be trusted. They are all waiting for you to make a grave mistake and taking an opportunity to let you down. An ache in your soul is their ultimate goal. Make a false move then you are gone forever. So stand your ground! On your feet! On your own!

Sometimes in your sleep you are dreaming of a play. A play made by one of the best authors. A play that you read when you were barely speaking the language. The third act  of this play recited in your long minutes of dream. And in this particular place, the third act of the play keeps coming over and over again where it says:


To die
To sleep
No more
And by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn


No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?

W
Jakarta, 15/09/2023
, ,

The Desire of Not Exist

September 14, 2023 Samuel Yudhistira



We reject all notions of the existence of greater power. Our utopian world is simply only exist inside our naughty mind. This great unbearable pain. Who did this to us? Who lit this flame into us? Who are we? The legendary story of a man who is predestined to destroy himself but not defeated. This great obsession of being disappear completely is fascinating. Don't you think the same? We become unknown, a man without past nor future. We live forever inside people's mind through ideas, an invisible ones, the invisible ideas of perfection. 

My darling, life is never kind even in your dream. We are born to to die. We can't choose and always ordered to listen. Sometimes, I imagine whenever I go to bed I have some sort of options about what dream should I dreamt of. Do you ever wake up with your t-shirt soaked in sweat? The first thing comes into my mind when I wake up is regret. It hurts. I wanna close my eyes and never to wake up again. I see diamond skies, purple rain, windy beach, and there's never a day go by without misery. 

Is death will be the answer to all this unanswered questions? I'm afraid of dying. But this deep relenting permanent hatred of myself is keeping me away from you. It makes me feel unworthy, albeit briefly but still it only makes things around me crumble or perish.

"Oh Captain! My Captain!" he shouted. The ship is tilting hard to the left, uncontrollably, the men move to their stations trying to stabilize the ship. 

This gigantic emptiness, episodic manic depression, and radical mood swings are sending me a message: It is better to be a non-existent than exist without love. Waves and waves of broken thoughts are flooding my brain with all the unthinkable acts to end my miserable life. I'm just a log floating in the sea. Madman with a great taste. Don't we all agree that taste can't be bought with all the materialistic things in the world? A thin red line that separates us from this obnoxious society. 

Who's killing us?

Still here, I carry all my old burdens. I carry them, men, women, I carry them everywhere I go. I swear it's impossible to get rid of them. I am filled with them and I fill them in return. Now, if a thousand perfect men were to appear it would not amaze me. Now, if a thousand beautiful forms of women appeared it would not astonish me. Here is the efflux of a soul. The efflux of the soul comes from within through embowered gates ever provoking questions, these yearnings why are they? These thoughts in the darkness why are they? Listen! I will be honest with you. I do not offer the old smooth prizes but offer rough new prizes. These are the days that must happen to you: You shall not heap up what's called riches. You shall scatter with lavish hands all that you earn or achieve. You but arrive at the city to which you were destined, you hardly settle yourself to satisfaction before you are called by an irresistible call to depart. You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and mockings of those who remain behind you. What reckoning of love you receive you shall only answer with passionate kisses of parting. You shall not allow the hold of those who spread their reached hands toward you.


But one fine sunny day, don't know when or when you will remember that once a man with all his gentleness, kindness, and weaknesses said:

I give you my hand! I give you my love more precious than money, I give you myself before preaching or law. Will you give me your hand? Shall we stick together as long as we live? If there's a sequel, would you love me as an equal? Would you love me until I'm dead? Or is there someone else instead? Will you come travel with me through this endless journey? Let's change the world! It may not work but it sure is a fun trying.


Lalu dari balik mata yang sudah renta butiran air mata mulai mengalir mengingat betapa hidup begitu menyenangkan. Betapa dunia pernah sangat indah. Seketika kau memejamkan mata dan kau berada di sana. Di momen yang kau selalu harapkan bisa terulang kembali bersama dengan dia yang kau harap bisa hidup kembali. Derap langkah cepat ketika hujan membasahi kota Jakarta, suara tawa di tengah kegusaran kota, dan senyuman manis dalam kepahitan dunia kembali mengisi relung pikiranmu. Tarik nafas dalam-dalam dan tersenyumlah. Karena mereka akan selalu abadi di dalam kenangan yang eksklusif hanya milikmu seorang. Setiap suara, sentuhan, dan bahasa badan yang terjadi menjadi milikmu seorang. Nikmati itu semua! Di tengah kebisingan  mesin-mesin kota yang terobsesi dengan uang, di sebuah sudut terkepung pencakar langit kita berdua pernah bermimpi tentang kesempurnaan di tengah kekacauan. Mereka berbicara tentang dunia. Mereka berbicara tentang kita. Suara-suara manis penuh cinta terus datang dalam bahasa yang berbeda.


Maka sempurnalah semua yang dirimu harapkan.


I ain't got nothing but regret. Do you remember when made those promises near the gates of your campus? The narrow street led us to a very strange feeling. We were lucky few. How I wish I could say something to you that evening. Maybe some pretty words that I used to say or maybe complimenting your look or just to tell you that I had a very great time and so glad that I spent it with you. My lips were sealed. Now, with these words I just want you to know that I had a pleasant time with you, that day, in Bandung, it was such an amazing experience. Thank you. 


The desire of not exist. Thousands of people are disappearing completely every year. No traces, no words, no letter nor messages, no nothing. Where are they? Becoming victims of human trafficking? Probably. Or maybe they just have found themselves completely. They've found inner peace and make a peace with the situation that most people couldn't comprehend. Without judgment nor validation from the outer world. Ain't that pretty? New identity, new biography, new life, new name. I value those who have guts to erase themselves from the map and start a new endeavour in life. A rendesvouz with destiny. I remember a scene from a movie when the first known recorded blues music was listened by those who make it. When people from the National Library asked him  about what he thinks about listening to his own piece, he said: "It's like...meeting myself again for the first time," and that's what a new life is. To meet myself again. That's the point of this great desire of not exist: scrap the old one and start a new one. How wonderful life is when you can press the "reset" or "rewind" button easily. This great imagination of being able to control time fascinate me even to this very day. 

In A Room Without Window in the Corner

September 12, 2023 Samuel Yudhistira

Shyness drives you away from all the things in life that you'd like to. Fear drives you away from something dangerous. Regrets send you away from any great opportunities. Bukankah sudah beberapa kali kamu mengalami hal-hal serupa? Jangan pernah takut untuk tidak menyerah dan jangan pernah malu untuk mengakui kalau kau lemah. Terkadang lebih baik menjadi bukan siapa-siapa daripada berusaha keras menjadi seseorang yang bukan kita. Bukankah hidup adalah tentang menjadi tenang dan senang? People are busy. They are busy dying. Some people get no choice and they can never find a voice to talk with that they can even find their own. All these people, where will they go? It's hard to imagine a life without this business world. We are at the centre of an epidemic. Yeah, a contagious one called greed. 

No conformity in my inner self. I don't wanna be like you. I am who I am. The captain of my own ship. Master of my destiny. Heart's filled with rage and anger. I know I have broken wings. You may wonder how long shall I fly with my broken wings. I don't care. I might just land on some random places. This city is a lovely place if you happen to a bed-ridden deaf mute. Sadly though most of us will probably end up here. Buried in public cemetery that sometimes will end up to be a shopping mall. Because our ruins don't benefit the earth. A man is nothing in this world. The least you can do is enjoying it with those who care. Find your place in this damn world or maybe you can make the better version of it. It must be a fun thing, innit? The old get old and the young get stronger. It's just life, life only. It's just a matter of time before you find yourself again and back again. Just like the old days when you couldn't wait to get outside and meet your precious folks. This body is rapidly aging. One way ticket to the moon, my friend! Pecker hard, powder dry! Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing. So, no matter how insignificant you think you are in this world there are more than a dozen reasons to stay in this world. Sometimes, we tend to forget and ignore those who care because we want someone else to find us. What do you expect? Isolating yourself? Waiting for something or someone in vain? Don't wait! Call them, text them, and tell them how grateful you are for having them as friends. We never know. Those glorious days will stay with you until the day you close your eyes forever. Hang tough! To be imperfect is a form of perfection. We share the same same skies, don't we? Don't you be no fool! You don't need to travel around the world for happiness. Well, if you have some fortune, then, why not? But some people weren't born with silver spoon. So, in that case you need to utilize your best resource: your surroundings! What else do you need? Or want maybe in this case. You don't have to sleep in a gutter or find the meaning of life in the mist of a human tragedy. Some of us did go through those experience. I have no idea how bad it is inside your mind but whatever them suckers say to you, I'm telling this: Screw 'em! Shove 'em! Now you get on those boots and start running! Go get 'em old boy! You'll be fine.

A battle we never knew was taking place inside your mind. We are all tricked into this great addiction of contents. Stimulating our mind. Why do we need to listen or watch something on our phone? Where are we going with all of this?