ALTRUISM FOR 2014

In 2014 I need to be more focused. I have decided that my focus for 2014 is altruism. It is not at all a new idea. It has been there for ages and I have been trying to implement it in my life. In 2014, it's going to be different. It will be my the one and sole focus. I will observe how others are doing it, learn from them and implement it.

This morning I took my son to the soccer game. I sat nearby the field and watched my son. Once in a while, my attention was diverted toward the passers by. A group of soccer team came nearby. Apparently they were the next team to play after my son. They attraced my attention, because 3 coaches were high school students from an International School. They tried hard to communicate in Indoonesian with the team comprising Indonesian children. They definitely did their best for their Indonesian was not too good but still the communication worked. They were giving instructions what to do if once their turn to play arrived.

My curiosity grew deeper as they opened a box and provided food for the children to eat. You could say right away that they were more than just happy with the food. I began to scrutinized them one by one and noticed the graphic on their shirt. So, these children belong to the international school. Another question popped up in my mind right away: Why didn't they speak English? They couldn't be students from that International School. I swiped my eyes through their faces and opened my ears widely. I began to hear the language of the street children. My mind began to draw inferences. I got closer to the children and asked them questions.

The children were from the villages nearby the International School. The students were taught how to lead and share with others. In my son's school, the students are the players, but in  this school, the students are the ones who create players out of the children from the nearby villages. That's altruism in my opinion. That's freedom in Fromm's concept of freedom. I have planned to teach altruism as one of the values in my school. Today I get a clue on how to include it in my programs.  Welcome altruism!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I sat on  the porch in this early morning. I am enjoying the accompany of darkness and the moments of new year. The cold morning rainy air stung  my skin. My entire body shuddered.  It overpowered me, yet tt has lost its supremacy to add scent to the earth.

I love to see  the different view and feel  an unusual ambiance of the new year.  Stillness is wrapping the cold earth with its wings.  Tranquility dominated the earth. The dim blurry lights of the night were still on duty,  doing the utmost to survive in  the darkness.  Why the light was trying to be in the opposing position to  the darkness is beyond my comprehension. Darkness has its own beauty.It unveil  the secrets that have always been thwarted to reveal.  Relying on our eyes and pushing the daylight to appear through  the  lights make the power of  the perceptions subside.

I close my eyes and open my ears widely. I push my sensitivity to my skin and make it be on duty. Slowly I begin to hear  the clamours and clatters of the  night. The new year party is on. The crickets are blowing the trumpets  and the fireflies are firecrackling among the wet and wild grassy field. The bloodsucker insects whom I have been well  acquintaced with hum gleefully  in my ears.  They are not as many as they used to be, but they are there and contribute to the orchestra of  the dark.

The cold breeze arrives gently and drop some droplets of water on my skin. It penetrates my pores and inflitrate deep into my skin. It stimulates the warmth of my body to emerge and  creep soothingly throughout my entire body.  A warm cordial  night is here to greet  and me.  Welcome to the secret of the darkness, you have managed to tame it  and Happy New Year. The coming year will certainly be a combination of darkness and brightness,  the darkness is a new friend and the brightness is an old friend. We are all friends.