Life is a Small Journey: A Contemplation

By : Nailal Armstrong "

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Well, not small, but valuable. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?”
Meg Ryan, You've Got Mail

It was an ordinary morning. I got up and thanked for my health. I also thanked for everything that Allah had given in that morning. After finishing my ‘morning duty’, I opened the door. The air touched my face and made it fresher. In the garden, the wind blew the leaves on the trees. It looked like ‘morning waving’ for me. The sun shined through the leaves and made the abstract shadow on the floor while my neighbor hens were crowing. All of those conditions made the morning perfect.
Yup, it was a perfect ordinary morning. I was thinking to travel around. It was Sunday, the day that I called ‘the day when the conscience fights with the loneliness’.
I was talking to myself, “Where am I going to go?”
I didn’t decide exactly where I wanted to go. Let Allah lead my hands to ride my motorcycle to somewhere.
I checked everything on my motorcycle, so I hoped there was no troubles on the road. Then, I rode my motorcycle through the morning air. After passing Inkopol, I passed the Patriot Raya Street. It was an alternative street, very strategic to run a business. On the right and the left of the street there was a lot of motorcycle washing services, restaurants, mini markets, Warnets and so on.
Not so long, I arrived at Pasar Kranji Baru; dirty, broken and bad smell. I didn’t want to get in there, so I passed it through Pemuda Street to Pasar Kranji Ujung that was being renovated. I stopped at the traffics light. While waiting the lamp turned green, I whistled. There was a little transportation in that morning. The air was still clean to breathe. Every other time, I heard ojek man giving their ride to employees that got off the bus. They showed their tired faces. The voice of people blended with the transportation sound. The condition was lively. It was the real life. It was not imitated reality.
The light turned green, and I continued my journey. I turned right and passed the Grand Mall Bekasi. I finally passed Jl. Jend. Sudirman. I still rode through happily on my bike until I got into GOR Bekasi traffic light. The street was like the capital letter of ‘T’ in enormous size. The light was red, and I looked around. On my left there was a gas station. On my right, there was a couple on Honda Tiger; the girl at the back was holding the rider tightly. Every other time they whispered and every other time they laugh. The little street singer with his little guitar was singing in a Koasi. Opposite it, there was a woman beggar that carried a baby. There was also an old woman beggar holding a plastic bowl where people put in the charity.
Hoooonnkk!!!. The sound of a horn car behind me realized that the light was green. It meant I had to go. I went straight with the shocking.
Finally I arrived in Bekasi train station. I arrived in a roundabout called Bulan Bulan. There used to be a cat fish statue in the middle of that roundabout. But some people burnt the statue few years ago.
There were many things I remembered from the place. For me, Bulan Bulan and the streets around it especially Jl. Ir. H. Djuanda is my childhood memory. It was the place where I spent my childhood and my teens. Not far from it there was a place named Proyek. It is a downtown area. From far away, you could see there were many shop rows on the right and the left street. They seemed to say: ‘Welcome to Bekasi! May you have a great and enjoyable journey!’
For me, the place around Bulan Bulan is the real Bekasi. The place where I used to go jogging in the morning, take a train, or only take a journey without purpose like right now. It was like enjoying life in the past time, life in the childhood. It was the period when I didn’t think about the big problems. I had been still afraid to do a sin or maybe I hadn’t thought about the sins yet.
On Jl. Ir. H. Djuanda also lies Pesantren Annida Al Islamy, the place where I had stayed for 6 years, the place where it had given me a deep impression, the place where I had improved, developed, studied and grown up until now, where the foundation of my mind was formed.
Time became more melancholic when it passed, when it became past time and was remembered, when it was proudly told as a ‘pleasure time’ story to new friends. The past time always reminds me there isn’t an eternity in the world. Everything has an end. Everything! No exception. It is really true that it is hard to realize that someday people around us will go away and disappear, that they cannot always be with us. Yeah, it is always like that. However, that is our life…
I had a thought that become a traveler is sometimes fun. I can go everywhere; go to the place where my physic and my mind fight against each other, meet many new friends without always be with them, without being afraid to became loneliness. I can live freely; can enjoy my whole life, a life without hate and sorrow.
But in fact, many people see the same people everyday. Until some people became a part of the other people. And like it or not, the other people seem more to know how the other people must act. And the fact is I am not such as the traveler. So I just have an ordinary life. But I know there are lots of things I proudly tell about my life, there are lots of people in my life that I love and admire —because they deserve it.
This is small, but valuable.
Ir. H. Djuanda Street ends in four junction of Bekasi traditional market. Bekasi River passes under the bridge. There were many people looked like playing soccer, basket ball or just only jogging in the Serbaguna field, in the corner of that conjunction. The people voices in that place were against the sounds of transportation that pass. The sun in the east sky step by step showed his sublimity. Opposite Serbaguna field it stands up a hospital of Bella, a maternity hospital without a fence. It is so different with many hospitals most the big in Bekasi. It was really simple and fun.
I automatically lead my hands turn right and in the next four junctions; I automatically turned to the right. And I arrived in Jl. Mayor Hasibuan, this street also is a street of pride of Bekasi. The buildings on it were very friendly. There were university, hospital, and cafés. It was tidy and clean. When I passed the street it felt like passing the Yogyakarta Street. There were many things I must be grateful about my life.
In the end, still automatically Allah leaded me home. Yup, no mater how far we go, we always come home. Life is like that. The life is a really small journey. If you started feeling like your life is ‘small’, it was right. But remember the phrase ‘Small, but valuable’, and stop any negative thoughts from entering your mind. You are the only one who can consistently remind yourself how valuable you really are.
When I arrived home, I turned on the fan and lay down. The radio step by step brings me into my dream.


Jakasampurna, 2009