Words and I

I have an old habit which might seem ridiculous for others, saying in my heart, "I hope you are fine," to people. At first, I did it to people I saw on the street, in public transportation, and anywhere, whose faces looked so sad, simple people who have to work hard to earn a little money, beggars, sellers on the market and street, buskers, and street children, old bus drivers, etc. Or someone who looked sick. Even to some policemen on the crossroads and angry politicians on television. 

Then I’ve learned to say that, too, to people who annoy or hurt or make me angry deliberately or not. It is much much more difficult. For example, to a bajaj driver who charged me too much for taking me to a place so near. I had never been to that place but my Dad said it was so near you could even walk. Because I was in a hurry, I took a bajaj. I thought Rp 5.000 would be fair but the driver insisted me to pay Rp 9.000 and said that it was a normal fare. Then later my Dad said the normal fair should have been Rp 5.000.

So, yes, I have been trying to say in my heart the words, "I hope you are fine," sincerely to those kind of people. It calms me down and I don’t get angry easily day by day. I am not someone who loses temper easily, but doing this also reminds me to feel blessed and be more patient.  

So, I hope you are fine, too, my family and friends!

It is a new restaurant on the sea I went to last Saturday. Two long bridges on both sides of the restaurant connect it to the beach. Quite a perfect place for visitors who require serenity, peace, and a bit privacy to dine.

It is highly forbidden to throw away garbages out to the sea because there’s a pool area on the beach near it. The restaurant manager must have a lot of troubles making sure no one throwing away garbages to the sea because sadly to say, littering seems to be a habit for my fellow countrymen. Sigh.

So came a fashionable good looking girl with a boy that evening. I noticed her because by way of her walking. She wore very high-heeled shoes (sadly to say again, I think most girls still choose fashionable and ‘painable’, rather than fashionable and comfortable) and she swayed when she walked, I thought she was drunk.

Not long after, I noticed her again, walking to a wash basin provided by the restaurant while her fingers sticking a cigarette end. There’s a garbage bin near the basin and she threw the cigarette end into the bin but… oops, she missed. The cigarette end was just sliding down the restaurant’s floor. The next thing she did was, she washed her hands and calmly went away without bothering to pick up her cigarette end.

Was it shameful for her to bend down and pick up some garbage on the floor and put it in the garbage bin? Was it hurting her PRIDE doing that? Who’s noticing her pride, anyway?