“Look deeply…”
Thanks to Yosua for made me write this. I just arrived at my dorm after hanging out with my friends at a coffee house in South Jakarta. Spending Chinese New Year Holiday with friends and a cup of coffee is not a bad idea, aye? How about you guys? Where did you guys spend your holiday?
I talked to Yosua that I’m quite sceptical about this statement: “Sustenance has been arranged by God”. What I’m saying is that, there are people who state that and literally put no effort on working things out in their life. Geez, I’m not an atheist who doesn’t believe in destiny. Every human being has their own path, determined by God. According to this principle, no matter how effing hard your effort is, if the path doesn’t say so, it doesn’t follow. If that so, then what does our existence mean if all of our activities and will is determined by an external variable? Shit, not now Sartre, maybe next time.
Oh, the principle is not like that, Kurik, you dumbass. Put it like this: “Sustenance has been arranged by God. But you still have to give your best effort” — it’s called ikhtiar in Islamic belief. Yeah, but what if you have given your best effort but the results still betray you? When you meant it, surely has given your best effort and strengthen your prayers to the holy God and that still happens, who are you blaming? You, or God? Surely God is not the answer, and here’s why.
As a Moslem, I do believe in destiny. But I have my own version on seeing destiny. I believe 100% that birth and death are destinies. The others are still in my question. Like career, money, politics, education, and even human effort on daily basis. God surely has his determination in this realm, but I think it’s not 100% like birth and death. I personally see it in the ratio of 80% to 20%, where 80% is determined by ourself and the other 20% is from God.
For example: Jenny is a little girl whose dream is to become a lawyer. She came from a well-off family. One day, she studied law at a world-renowned university and successfully become a professional lawyer in her country. She fulfilled her dream. Who is the cause of Jenny’s success? Herself, or God? I say it’s both. Her hard work is the causes of her success, and her parents’ wealthiness is too. Wait, then, where is God in this scenario? Okay, let’s take deeper look, my friend. “She came from a well-off family” is God in this scenario. Jenny did not have the power to request to being born to a rich family, in a particular country, and at that time only. And I think, God is not a radio host whom you can request songs to. So yes, I still have faith in destiny according to this logic. Boo, privilege jerks. But life is still not fair. Gotta burn my cigarettes, thank you.
Cristiano Ronaldo. Does it ring a bell? Yup, he’s well known as the best footballer in the world right now. Ronaldo didn’t come from a rich family, he experienced extreme poverty in his childhood. Picture his poverty this way: his mother once told the media that she wanted to abort Ronaldo when she was pregnant. When in school, his teacher said to him that football couldn’t feed you, said that he had to craft another dream. Today, Ronaldo is known for one of the most money-making football players throughout history. Imagine if Ronaldo’s mother aborted him. Where can we even put his teacher’s words? Ronaldo came from a poor family and a bad environment, yet he still made it to the top with no privilege like Jenny did.
Here’s my point: You didn’t fail, shall you look from what sight you are seeing. You want to be a designer but you didn’t have any designing skills. Then, you decided to study design and dive into it. One day, you finally become a designer. Not stopping there, you want to be a designer for Apple. After many attempts, you still didn’t get the chance to work there as a designer. You may conclude yourself as a failure, but let me ask you something: which one is the results? Becoming a designer was the initial goal. Perhaps, we got lost in translation and tangled on the way. Reflect on it, you already got it, you reached your goal.
Edited by Yosua Pradiaswara
