By Yudi Latif
There are many reasons that make us disappointed with development in this country. Wherever we head to, what emerge are just mess, silliness, greediness, hypocrisy, dirtiness and tardiness. Mediocrity becomes dominant colour that we brush on national leadership canvas on every field.
This is the colour that reflected fear of leadership crisis. Disorder becomes the general order of statehood. Such chaos order will breed congestion and disorganizes everywhere. Moral hazard becomes ethos of power. Such bypassing mentality will produce corruption and drains public wealth reserves.
This mediocrity phenomenon rooted from what was Frank Furedi (2004) called by the cult of philistism, adoration to shallowness culture by over emphasizing to practical and materialistic interests. Education world as the fortress of depth of knowledge has undergone intellectual enthusiasm yielding, eroded by managerial and instrumentalism ethos dominations; an ethos which respects art, culture, and education as far as providing instruments to serve practical objectives.
People who inflame intellectual enthusiasm have risks to be titled as “elitist”, “not grounded”, and “marginal”. Depth of knowledge was avoided, shallowness was celebrated. Fondness to tangible feasts, instead of inner contents was widespread. We tend to jump to end result, instead of pursuing process full of sweat and responsibly. What is in was enlivened by too many gestures without motions; too much image highlights without depth of substance, too many travelling without moving, and too many changes just to increase problems.
Many crisis happened along the democracy party extravaganza nowadays actually was a surface popping of moral crisis because the ignorance of moral exercise by government and public. Related to this, Wiranatakoesoema’s commemoration on BPUPK council was like replacing this possibility. “According to my opinion, what concerned me because human is not or not enough receiving soul exercise, it is an exercise that generate a motive force inside one’s soul to recognise the truth and taking all kinds of responsibilities as an active society member, ... isn’t our objective was pro patria. But pro patria per orbis concordiam. Therefore this soul nature must be solved, because intellectual exercise only, no matter how grand, really inadequate to make human become a good citizen.
No matter how dark this country is surrounded by clouds, we must not condemn our own nation with negative pessimism. Psychologist David D Burn reminded, soul depression was a false thinking. Negative thinking distorts perception so everything was considered bad and meaningless. When someone or a nation is depressed by pessimist and powerlessness, life energy is paralyzed by 4D miseries (defeated, defective, disserted and deprived) which experienced as absolute truth. Here, Burn suggested the need for positive thinking and optimistic.
Positive thoughts and optimistic must be realistic. It is not like waiting for kindness as falling durian (king fruit), instead need to be accompanied by hard work with truth and patience in the race of time. That worries and pessimism of the future can only be solved by racing to plant kindness seed today.
Pessimism of the future occurs because only a small number of people are planting kindness today. Whereas, yesterday and tomorrow decided by today because time flies so fast therefore a present within day count will be a history. Therefore, whoever can control today can control the past; while whoever can control the past can control the future.
What has made the past as grand memory and appearance as hope for happiness are our patience and seriousness to seize the day. Just like what Leo Tolstoy said, “Two of the most powerful contenders are patience and time control.”
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