Some people talk on the phone with their pals while sitting on a bus. Some others close their ears with earphones, listen to some good musics, and then fall asleep, which is, I think, the most effective way of spending time on a trip. People have their own method on killing time on a bus. Mine, are listening to some songs, pertaining my mind in sereneness, and thinking of some things I usually don’t have any chance to think about. Last Sunday, on the way to Cikarang, on the bus seat, my mind wildly wander to something about this life. Well, my life, at least.

Most people want to get rich. I want to get rich. In fact, I need to get rich, to be able to have some kind of assurance to hang on to when I grow old, or when my parents get sick, etc. But the question that popped into my head was, how rich? How much money and wealth what we need to live well. Is one-billion-rupiah rich enough? Is trillions-rupiah rich sufficient? Then my mind went to the time when I was a college student, when I had my internship. My allowance at that time was quite good. Still, I could not get it collected. No leftover, at all, except that one tool that helps cooling my room. Now, while I’m working at the same company, with good payment, still I haven’t been able to collect the money. It seems that there are always things needed. Fixing this, fixing that, paying this, paying that. Another question appeared. Why does that happen? It brought me back to my junior high period. I walked often from the school to the spot where I could get the public transport. Those days, I only spent Rp 4.000 each day, for snacks, and for transport in case I had extracurricular activities. I took a bus to get to my English course venue at Slipi, a Kopaja 88. I just found the answer to my question. These days, it really is difficult finding me sitting on that kind of bus. I prefer driving my father’s car to go someplace instead of getting on a bus. I prefer paying tukang ojek several thousands rupiah instead of walking for about 500 m or 1 km. There were times when I slept on a room with a fan. Now, there should be an air conditioning on it. There were times when I made my own ice tea to accompany me writing something. Nowadays it’s always fun to sit on a coffee shop, enjoying a cup of coffee while writing my blog posts. That expensive craps really took the money out of my wallet. I suddenly remembered the moment my junior high economic teacher said, men’s expenses increase as their income increase.

My mind began to wander farther. People few centuries ago do not have air conditioner. They walk through rivers, climb mountains, run through the forest. They go on hundred miles of journey to meet their family and colleagues because they don’t have phones. They eat natural food. They use fire to produce light. The fish in the sea, the birds on the sky, the plant on the land, seem to be enough for all human being at that time. They don’t have to worry about the energy crisis, about the global warming, or about some stupid political issues. Their life may appear to be primitive, but they live peacefully I think..

It’s really true what Gandhi said. There is enough on Earth for everybody’s needs, but not for greed. Men realized that they could make artificial cold, and they invent freon. Men needed good taste in their food, they formulated MSG. The movie, Avatar, was the next thing that came into my mind. The beautiful Planet Pandora was destroyed because of some people’s greed. We need to live comfortably, always look for something instant and easy, and that’s why we need more tools, more things to ease our life, hence, more money. Accordingly, more exploration on Earth, on what things could be sold, which part of the Earth that could be dug, which resources that can be exploited to fulfill men’s needs.

When I was watching 2012 in the theater, I was not afraid. It wasn’t frightening. On the other hand, Wall-e scares me more. I’m afraid the future of this earth, of human’s life won’t be like what is in 2012. I don’t think the downfall of humanity will be caused by the disastrous solar flares, comet crashing, or deadly flood. I think the downfall of this earth will start when plants don’t have enough fresh resources  to grow. It will start when human depend their life on the easiness provided by artificial means. I’m really afraid that tens or hundreds years later, the situation depicted in Wall-E become a reality, nutrient pills are started to be consumed to replace common foods because of their lack of time to eat properly, fat-unable-to-walk-because-they-never-walk people sit on a remote controlled wheelchair, digital monitor in front of them that helps them communicating among themselves, walking robots as their assistants, and pathetic researches of their own home, the Earth.

It’s a bit scary indeed. But I must say, at this rate, we may be on the road down to that destination. I think it’s time we go back to the nature, to care a lil bit more about our beloved Earth. Let’s not wait till we are on the edge of that cliff. Let’s start now, let’s begin from our own life.

Oh, btw, this is my first-written-in-English post ever! Yay! My apologize for some mistyped and incorrect grammars or vocabs. I’m still learning..as always.. :)

Regards,

Sigit Awesome