Saya rasa tidak ada manusia yang sempurna.

Mungkin jasmaninya yang tidak sempurna.
Jika pun jasmaninya sempurna, mungkin rohaninya yang tidak sempurna.
Jika pun jasmani dan rohaninya sempurna, mungkin atribut kehidupannya yang tidak sempurna.
Jika pun kesemuanya sempurna, mungkin jalan hidupnya yang tidak sempurna.
Bagaimanapun, akan selalu ada ketidaksempurnaan dalam kehidupan manusia.

Tidak mengapa, karena memang sudah seharusnya.
Karena segala uzur ketidaksempurnaan kita itu lah, nanti, di hadapan-Nya,
yang akan menjadi bekal kita untuk mengemis belaskasih-Nya, agar kita diperkenankan masuk ke surga-Nya.
Ya, terutama ketika amal-amal kita nanti telah maksimal tak mampu lagi membantu kita.

Can we have a perfect life?

"Mom, had God ever made a mistake?"
"No, definitely not." I answered it without hesitant. He was quiet, thinking.

Some other time, he asked again, "Did God ever make a mistake? Or is it only human?"
"Of course, only human made mistakes. God never did."
He fell quiet, thinking.

For the n-th time he asked again, "Are you sure that God never made mistakes? If so, what about the babies that we saw on the magazine, which were sick with rare diseases? which were conjoined twins? Were those not God's mistakes when creating those babies?"

Ah, I got it now. It must have been because of the magazine from the children hospital that he was talking about. He must have been thinking a lot about the sick kids after reading it. Previously, I was able to answer his questions without hesitation that God never did a mistake. But now, his extended questions made me rethink about my answers. I was quiet unable to answer it right away.

His questions somehow reminded me of a question on Quora that sounded like this: "If God is really perfect and detailed in all of His creations to the level of DNAs and beyond, why are there kids who are suffering from hard-to-cure diseases, like cancers? Wasn't that easy for God to just make everything perfect?" It was asked by a doctor who works in a children hospital. He said he couldn't stand to see kids suffering and it hurts him every time. I couldn't imagine how harsh it was emotionally to witness the battle of innocent children against their incurable diseases on daily basis. It's not a job for everybody.

I did not know how exactly should I answer my son's questions. It looks similar, but with a twist of emphasise to whether God made mistake or not. Gosh!

Oh well, no matter what the right answers are, I do believe that everything existed with purposes. In this case, I have 2 answers for the questions. First, without such difficult cases, nothing will push human to their limits. If diseases are so tame and easy to cure, human will stop striving for innovations in medicine and its technology. Everybody will get satisfied, happy and easy life, but human brain, traits, and resources are too powerful to be wasted. A strong boat is safe in the harbour, but it's not what a boat is built for. Isn't it?

Secondly, if I were an author, I would want to make my stories become so interesting and rich. I wanted the stories to be colourful, variative, to have sad and happy events, with all possibilities appearing inside. So, rare diseases can be used to achieve it. Sounds selfish? Yes, but, who am I to complain. I did not even own this life but God. He can do whatever He wishes to His 'stories'. Oh, I feel so hopeless thinking this way. I don't like my second answer.

I like the first one. It made me feel that human beings are so empowered to make a change, to keep going forward, to be resilient, to keep innovating, and, more importantly, to be compassionate and to care for each other. It is important to realise that it's just a matter of luck that those diseases can fall upon us, if not on someone else. They have to exist in this world in whatever way. If it does not get them, it could have been on you, me, my kid, your kid, or someone else's. I think it does not only apply to sickness, but also about other misfortunes in life such as poverty, abnormalities, disabilities, disasters, accidents, etc.

So, let's be caring to each other, be thankful of what we've got, and let's lessen each others' burden if we can. It's more as a reminder for me, who was often so forgetful about these.

I do dream of a world where everybody is happy, healthy and lucky, but.... let's reserve it for the Heaven. So that we have something to look forward to when we leave this world.....

Ada nggak sih orang yang nggak takut mati?

Pertanyaan ini sempat mengusik rasa penasaran saya. Terutama sejak bertubi - tubinya berita kematian menghampiri kalangan keluarga dekat saya. Saya jadi sering berdiskusi tentang hal ini dengan suami, dan kesimpulan kami atas kemungkinan jawabannya adalah: kok kayaknya nggak ada. Dalam diskusi kami, kami membahas bahwa kematian itu menakutkan karena adanya faktor ketidakpastian akan apa yang akan terjadi setelahnya. Ketidakpastian itu menakutkan dan membuat khawatir.

Tapi ternyata saya salah!

Tak berapa lama setelahnya, saya tiba - tiba chatting dengan seorang sahabat saya yang kebetulan sudah lama sekali kami tak bertukar kabar. Sahabat saya ini memang seorang yang filosofis. Kami dahulu adalah partner diskusi - diskusi berat tentang hidup dan kehidupan.
Eniwei, beberapa saat baru - baru ini, kami tiba - tiba bertukar kabar, dan belum sempat saya bertanya, sahabat saya ini sudah menjawab pertanyaan yang ingin saya tanyakan. Ya, pertanyaan yang itu. Dan beliau adalah salah seorang yang menyatakan nggak takut dengan kematian. Alasannya, karena beliau sudah pernah merasakan near death experience. Menurutnya, ada suatu perasaan yang lain, yang membahagiakan, ketika itu terjadi. Beliau kemudian juga memberi saya sebuah link tentang itu.

Baru - baru ini, saya menemukan orang kedua yang menjawab pertanyaan ini dengan jawaban yang senada, nggak takut mati. Alasannya: karena mati itu kan mau bertemu dengan Allah, sedangkan Allah kan Maha Baik. Masak sih kita nggak senang bertemu dengan Allah yang Maha Baik?

Dua jawaban yang senada, tapi dari sudut pandang yang berbeda. I love both answers. Kedua penjawab adalah sahabat saya. Hehe, saya ngaku2 sahabat, padahal keduanya senior minimal 10 tahun di atas saya.

Jadi, bagaimana dengan anda?