The Muncruters

It’s sad, so sad
It’s a sad, sad situation
And it’s getting more and more absurd
It’s sad, so sad
Why can’t we talk it over
Oh it seems to me
That sorry seems to be the hardest word
(Elton John).

Buat sebagian orang, kata maaf menjadi satu kata yg sulit untuk diucapkan, for whatever the reasons are. Entah teman, pacara atau orang tua yg enggan utk meminta maaf pada anaknya, bahkan mungkin Pemerintah. Ya, adalah sangat tidak masuk akal ketika Parlemen Belanda baru-baru lalu memutuskan untuk menolak permohonan seorang wakil negara Indonesia untuk sebuah permohonan maaf karena telah menjajah rakyat Indonesia selama beratus-ratus tahun. Atau dalam film Civil Action-nya John Travolta, sebuah perusahaan yang membuang limbahnya sembarangan dan melukai pemuda-pemudi setempat, menolak untuk sekedar: mengucap kata maaf dan memilih untuk memberikan ‘uang damai’ sebesar 8 juta dollar, atau sekitar 375ribu dollar (setelah dipotong biaya pengacara, biaya perkara dll) per orang untuk anak-anak mereka yang meninggal jadi korban? I mean, how do they sleep? How do they forgive themselves? Or maybe they don’t feel any guilty at all.

In personal sphere, if you still have consciouness, to ask forgiveness is to forgive yourself. Untuk mengucap kata ‘maaf’ adalah bagian dari proses untuk memaafkan diri sendiri, yang telah melukai orang lain.

Tapi, ternyata persoalan tidak semudah itu. Pertanyaannya kemudian adalah, sampai sejauhmanakah kata maaf dianggap sudah cukup? Cukupkah kata maaf ketika perbuatan tersebut sudah mengakibatkan kerugian material maupun immaterial bagi orang lain? For some people, in some cases, maybe ’sorry’ would not be enough… to compesate. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have any legal action to deal with it, right?

Terlebih ketika bagi sebagian orang, kata maaf menjadi satu kata yg mudah untuk diucapkan. Just say "Sorry" and the problems are solved. Case closed. But, is it?

Talk over? So, ’sorry’ is become something to negotiate? Something that you have to compromise? Sesuatu untuk disepakati? But in personal sphere, it doesn’t always work that way. Kadang-kadang, kita terpaksa harus ‘ikhlas’ menerima kata maaf, bahkan ketika perbuatan yang dihasilkan sudah menimbulkan kerugian… immaterial maupun material. Dan maaf, menjadi sebuah kata yg sulit dan penuh dilema Yeah, sorry…

31 December 2005. It’s new years’ eve. Busy busy busy. First, i have to move to the other side of Dorus. Sharing a family room with Endah, my future room mate. It’s bigger, closer to Ita and of course, cheaper (what else?). After struggling with my essay (not to mention that i was sick at that time. My jaws hurt and the doctor only gave me some pain killer.. ouch… typical ducth doctor!), i finally moved in to my new room. Got a new couch from Zaka, new large light brown carpets from Avi and a lovely small purple cabinet also from Avi… uhm, how nice. Then, i went to new years party with Ita and Sanjay in Scheveningen, to witness how this crazy Ducth celebrate the new years eve.

We also have some Phillipino friends, Agnes, Cates, Rommel and Jason with their two bowls of sour chicken. Yummy. I didn’t cook (wow…tumben) We lit some fireworks in the garden. That was beautiful. We went to the beach together, took some pictures, and enjoy the fireworks.

Then, it turned to a battle field. Firecracker battlefield. Some crazy people just threw small  firecracker to other people. We were taking pictures together when a small firecracker landed on my skirt. I instanly jumped, of course. It finally get off (but i didn’t know it already get off, so i was still jumping around :P), but it burnt my skirt. Not just my skirt, it went to my long john and finally, my skin! Damn. It is my favourite skirt, you bastard. Ups, sorry for my languange..:-) Then i have to clean up my skin and give some betadine. The worst thing is, i didn’t know who the bastard was..:-(

But the next morning was okay. We witnessed the dutch tradition of taking off their clothes as minimum as they can and do this mid-day swimming at the beach. I can’t believe it. I mean, swimming in those brown sands, brown water (as compare to those white sand and blue water in Lombok :-P) hahaha. Anyway, i got new friends. A cute light brown teddy bear (i haven’t named him, yet). A charity, for kids with cancer. I put him on the couch, next to that light blue teddy bear and my beloved porky