Seize the day

I tried to study last night when some police cars, an ambulance, and a unit of fire truck came into our neighborhood with loud sirens and bright flash lamps. Seemed that one of our neighbor called them up; none of us in the house knew what it was about. Didn’t matter anyway as long as there was no gunshot or people throwing things to our windows. So there I was, lying in my bed with Kaylia, my laptop, my text books, and two novels I borrowed from the public library this week. Later, of course, I decided to leave the text books for tomorrow (as if I have forever to prepare for the exam) and started reading the Chicken Boy.  My mind mingled between the two subject: chicken and exam.

[…. the value evaporation happened the worst when a company made a bad acquisition.. whether they did it using cash or stocks…]

It  was about an interesting young man in his 7^th grade somewhere in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was neither popular in a good sense nor a brainer for some reason: his brothers were the enemies of the teachers, his dad was never been around, and his grandmother who took him to school was arrested for parking in a wrong spot on the first day of his middle school time. He was an okay average boy, with little sarcasms as a result of being raised in an empty heart, with none around him most of the time after his mother passed away of cancer. His dad and grandmother blamed each other for the death of their beloved wife and daughter; they never forgot and forgave for that very matter. His grandma even tried to take away Tobin from his dad, believing that Tobin was not well taken care of, by calling the Social Department. Tobin was evacuated to a foster home where he lived temporarily with an old couple who liked and loved him just like any other normal parents or grandparents.

[…. the key elements of world class resource allocation are…hmmm, where did I read this matter…]

His name was Tobin Macauley. It was not until he had a fight with the school cocky that he finally got himself a friend. The truth was, Henry Otis, the boy who jumped to beat the cocky boy, was the one who started all the conversation. Henry kept talking about the chicken he was raising with his brother, Harrison. Actually, Henry was a world class talker in any subject making Tobin a world class listener. Their friendship began when Henry invited him to come over to meet the troop. Tobin was interested in anything else than chicken, mostly because he had seen his grandma twisted and pulled the head of her chicken sometimes before. But her grandma said that if someone invited him then he had to show up even just for couple of minutes. So he went and found himself enjoying the visit. He couldn’t understand first why Henry and Harrison were so crazy about the chicken. What’s so special? Later he knew that Harrison was more a business man; nothing interest him than making money while keeping the chicken happy. Henry, on the other hand, had a belief that chicken got souls and never quitted to convince everybody that it was the fact. He even asked Tobin to be his partner for an extra-credit project in their science class with Mr. Peabody. Their project was about… chicken!

[…. We should use different WACC whenever…. Quack..quack…quack…]

There was a lot basic facts about chicken Henry told him: happy chicken would lay eggs more often. You could sing to them; played them guitar would be the best to soothe them. Chicken are social creatures so you should keep them at least three at all times (like they would die if they were lonely). Chicken with white ears lay white eggs, chicken with brown ears lays brown eggs. Araucana chicken lays blue eggs.  Chicken’s poops could show you their health condition. Look in their eyes before you buy any chicks; a good chick would have bright and lively eyes. You can hypnotize chicken (for whatever reason).

[…. Exam was completely disappear from my mind at 1 am…]

To make the long story short, it was the time Tobin felt he was “someone”. He was unexpectedly feeling happy for being himself. His teacher sent his dad a letter mentioning the progress Tobin made at school. His dad tried very hard to make a good impression about him raising Tobin in front of the social workers (Tobin’s heart was never that warm in a very long time when he saw his dad made dinner and started to make a conversation). He was good with the chicken (he signed the business arrangement with the Otis brothers and started to grow 5 chicken of his own in grandma’s yard). The business went well. Other than being his business partner, Harrison was his competition in running as well. Tobin was convinced that he was good for the school race. Henry told him that he was a natural runner. Grandma even bought him a new pair of shoes. Harrison pushed him for another very good reason: he expected Tobin to be in the school team so Tobin could tell the coach about him. So, by the time Harrison walked into the middle school himself, the coach would had already been aware of his capability. On top of that, Maricruz, his beautiful classmate, joined him for a checker game. And he was hopeful that would not be the last time they played.

My problem is really resembles everyone’s problem in Indonesia. Reading, primarily good books, has not been a culture here. Good books are still a mean of luxury which can’t compete with mobile phone or ipod. Books are too serious and uneasy. A written form of language with which the message is sent is much harder to understand than, for instance, verbal instruction to use electronic devices. Unlike sound and visual stimulant, script seems to be more difficult to digest by average people. People here are not really valuing concepts because pragmatism always wins in real life, especially in a country like Indonesia where everything seems tumbling down, unsolved. But I think that is not the way it is. The main point here is that globalization flourishing now only touch the very skin of consumerism. People put first fashion, fine products, and gala dinning as their primary life style. Books usually come in the middle of people’s expense list, if not the last because insurance’s premium started to enter people’s expenditure nowadays.

Another fact attracting me : consumer goods’ price rarely goes down while the price of a big portion of local books is slowly getting lower. Good bookstores, old and new, remain full of visitors (and hopefully buyers) but other boutiques, cafes, and outlets of fashion and luxury in shopping malls attract more. When I tried to calculate how much one spends on week end lunches or dinners (in this case, my family was the respondent), I was surprised that the cost goes higher every year. Based on my story and some samples, I came to a proxy that In average a small family in medium class spends about 100 thousands Rp per week on consumer goods, almost 100% higher that money they spend on books. Even if the family is committed to serve books as nutritious breakfast, they don’t always have time to do it. Household works, attention-demanding children, deadly traffic jam, couple’s communication and other family matters swallowed their time. A single might plans to invest small part of his/her fortune in bookstores if she gets enough time to read it due to her full schedule during week days (working late) and week ends (hanging out with friends). We can stand movies (even the dry ones) or TV shows but we can't survive on books. It’s obvious, we run out of money or time or attention for books.

Like how the food chain works, whenever there’s no food source the next group will face hardness to stay alive. Without good books and proper time to read and intention to grasp the idea from the books, seldom one succeeds the writing stage as a medium to disburse thoughts and share inspiration. This is also a big predicament for most of Indonesian. Writing is not as fun as playing or chatting. People send short message, email, or chat via telecommunication devices, of course, but their level of language and writing style are hardly improving in that way.

I am not complaining. Just not ready to give practical solution to this issue. My kid loves books even though she hasn’t been able to read on her own. But every child loves books, don’t they? Then, I think adult’s duty is to lead children’s  impulsive manner toward books into self directing spirit in managing their knowledge. Am I ready yet? I presume I am a kid myself for now.