Skip to main content

Showing My True Color

Pernah hidup di dua benua yang berbeda, di tiga negara yang berbeda, lebih dari 5 kota yang berbeda membuat Oma menjadi orang yang memiliki mixed identity, campur bawur. Bukan identitas orang Indonesia tok! Bukan identitas orang Eropa tok! Tapi mixed!

Eiitss, tapi Oma menolak dibilang memiliki identitas bunglon, karena Oma berusaha untuk menjadi ‘who I really am’, ndak pretending, ndak munafik.

Di Indonesia, Oma selalu dibilang ‘orang bule’, karena kebiasaan, sifat dan pola pikir yang sudah tidak lagi cocok dengan orang Indonesia (menurut beberapa orang). Let’s say my parents. In the beginning, ketika Oma kembali tinggal di rumah, Oma merasa mereka overreacted: nanya pergi kemana, jam berapa, sama siapa; nanya pulang berapa, diantar siapa, kenapa pulang telat; dan nanyain hal-hal kecil-kecil yang ngga penting lainnya.

Coba bandingkan dengan kehidupan Oma di Belanda, yang sebodo amat mo pulang jam berapa, pergi sama siapa, naik apa. Mo ngga pulang, pulang pagi, pulang mabok pun ngga ada yang ngomelin! (Anyway, sudah ndak pernah lagi pulang mabok, cuma sekali dan terakhir kali terjadi di Exeter, UK. Not again! Pusing! Mana pulangnya harus jalan kaki deh waktu itu. Fool me!)

Trus, di Indo, khususnya di Surabaya, orang-orang terlalu pusing dengan apa yang orang lain pikirkan. Mereka juga pusing untuk menjadi part of ‘a group’. The bottom line is, beberapa orang Indonesia takut untuk menjadi beda.

Nah, beda kan? Ya, itulah yang membuat Oma kadang-kadang dijulukin ‘bule’, karena hal-hal dan pola pikir yang berbeda.

Di Belanda, Oma belum bisa dibilang bule Belanda, karena baru saja, teman Oma yang sudah cukup lama tinggal di sini, bilang bahwa pola pikir Oma berbeda.

Susah juga ya.
Hidup di berbagai negara yang berbeda, dengan culture and behavior yang varied, yang in the of the day, whether we want it or not, shape, or at least, affect, us. Membuat kita menjadi seperti sekarang.

Bukan salah bunda mengandung, tapi mungkin memang Oma yang merasa harus show her true color, ndak bisa menjadi bunglon di setiap culture atau tempat yang berbeda.

Oma ya Oma. Oma di Indonesia, sama Oma di Belanda, sama Oma kalo di Inggris adalah Oma yang sama. Teman-teman yang mengenal Oma di Indo, Belanda atau Inggris akan memiliki, more or less, the same description tentang Oma.

Kenapa sih Oma nulis posting ini?

Hm,… Oma lagi capek. Lagi baru aja bertengkar ama beberapa teman Oma. It made me thinking: apa Oma yang aneh? Apa memang Oma yang ndak lagi cocok berteman dengan my fellow Indonesians? Apa Oma yang sudah berubah terlalu jauh sehingga ngga bisa mengerti pola pikir orang Indonesia? Atau Oma yang terlalu cynical?

Oma ndak tau. Yang pasti, Oma adalah Oma. Dan rasanya, lebih penting memiliki identitas sebagai Anak Tuhan atau Orang Kristen, ketimbang memiliki identitas duniawi yang membuat bingung. Karena sebagai Anak Tuhan dan Orang Kristen, kita pasti memiliki nilai-nilai positif, melakukan dan memikirkan hal-hal yang membangun dan positif.

Now, the question is, do I have that identity?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What would you do if you could live another life

What would you do if you could live another life just for one day? This line is quoted from "Last Chance Harvey" . I have watched this film twice and still feel so touched everytime I watch it. Kate Walker, the main character in this film, uttered this question to Harvey Shine. In this story, both of them lived a life that is not very happy-chappy. Kate lived in a pathetic, boring life; Harvey in a screwed one. When Kate asked this question, both of them seem to ponder: what if I could live a different life, just for one day, just to try out. This question makes me ponder, too: what would I do if I was given a chance to live any kind of life I want, just for one day? Where would I be? What would I do? Who would I be? Lately I have been thinking about the life I am living right now. Everything is so well-planned. I graduated from high school, went abroad to study, came back home to work, went abroad again to do my master, working in a reasonably good organisation, and going ho

Cold Feet

One of my closest friends is getting married tomorrow another one in May another one in November. and an ex-classmate is also getting married in April/May. and, I dreamed about getting married last night. I remember some months ago I was so enthusiastic with the idea of getting married. Although I knew that our relationship was not yet ready for that stage, I was so pushy to Stefy. I had asked him when exactly we would get married. Ah well, it was all the flashy things that I longed for. Right now, what I want is to avoid it! I am just not brave enough to throw myself into this new status. Don't get me wrong, I am probably just like any other girls out there who like the beautiful wedding gown, like to be made up, like to be the queen of the night. But, have you ever considered what would happen after you wave off the guests and head to your own home, starting your new chapter of life? or what would happen after the happy chappy honeymoon? Would we then live

WSAD? (What Should Ariel Do?)

As a communication expert, we always need to be prepared for crisis communication or disaster management. If a company suffered a bad publication, or when bad things happened, like with BP’s oil spill or Toyota’s cars, the communication people need to work very hard to communicate the right message (while some other people work on to make things right) and to win the public favour again. In theory, companies need to be prepared for crisis way in advance; however not many companies did that. I believe, Ariel had also never thought that such drama would happen, but yeah, here it is, and he has to face it! So, here is my humble opinion regarding what he needs to do to clear the air: Scenario 1: Launch a single/album Celebrities, especially musicians, usually would create a drama or scandal to increase their popularity in order to promote the next movie, single, or album that would be launched. What Ariel could do is to write a song (or an album) as soon as possible and launch it! And thee