Ask Yourself

No, I wasn't galvanized to write this post by Justin Bieber's song Love Yourself. This post is a fruit of me looking at what has been happening in my life.

I just got in a relationship recently. It is a phase that is blissful; I have found someone that I have been waiting for. Being in love is one of the greatest things humans can experience, I believe.

However, it doesn't mean there are no rocks on the road. Once my respected high school teacher told me something that sounded like "Living a relationship or marriage life is not a piece of cake; it is not easy to 'unite two heads.'" Arguments or disagreements must occur between the two loving ones. I have encountered these and I learned something from seeing about this kind of situation.

From my vantage point, when a problem comes up, humans tend to see anything that is not them. We automatically think of other people associated with it and try to find the 'mistakes' that they have made. I think it is a trait that should urgently be changed. I found asking myself an amazing way to deal with a problem. Instead of 'looking outside', spattering ourselves with questions such as "Does the problem exist because of me?"; "What mistakes have I made?"; and "What have I done wrong?" would be a much better option.

Most of us deal with many people on a daily basis. Friends and family are some who you can have skirmishes with. So, you could start to solve them by being wiser, using the 'magic mirror'. Or let's take it to a much higher level: think about an issue your country is facing. Is it really the government's failure? Or is it you who don't care about your own country?

I'm not saying that we are always the ones to blame for anything bad happening in our lives. It is just that we need to not forget to take ourselves into account when considering something. It is always good to reflect on ourselves, isn't it?

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The Problem of Tolerance

Recently, in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the food stall of an aged woman named Saeni was inspected by officials of Banten, one of the biggest provinces in Indonesia. They confiscated all of her food – and perhaps drink(s) too – since it was considered illegal for people to sell food and/or drink during certain hours in the fasting month for Muslims. This was recorded on a video and it became viral on social media; the public responded by giving her a big donation – around 265 million IDR, equal to approximately 19,925 USD.

The underlying idea behind this attention-drawing event is that people should express tolerance to those who are fasting. However, there are people who are opposed to this with the thought that, actually, Muslims are the ones who have to pay respect – to those who aren't fasting – which makes a lot more sense since, as far as I know, fasting is not about avoiding temptation, but resisting it. But, say, it is really about 'avoiding temptation'. So we are faced with a clash – one side wants to fulfill their daily sustenance needs (and this means bread and butter for Saeni), while the other wants to experience as fewer things that can drive them to consume food and drink as they can.

In the wake of this controversial matter, a meme challenging the Minister of Religious Affairs to keep Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport open on Silence Day and ban Christmas trees in malls has spread on the Internet. If you think about it, they reflect the same kind of issue. Most Balinese are Hindus, but there are Balinese who aren't. I believe so many foreigners, as well as non-Hindu Balinese (including Muslims), want to enter and leave Bali through the airport on the religious holiday, when Hindus don't work – perhaps they want to visit their families or partners that they haven't met for ages. The question is "Who is to tolerate who?" The same thing can be recognized in the second case, although it is more subtle. Would a Muslim hanging out in a mall be agreeable to occupancy of items promoting Christianity, which clearly teaches doctrines contradictory to Islamic ones, in some space where they should be able get through? The honest answer is "no". And this gives rise to the same question "Who is to tolerate who?"

I reckon we can find many other examples easily. You live next to a church and the choir is chanting a hymn while you are trying to meditate, needing silence. You are exhausted and trying to catch forty winks at noon before continuing to work at 1, but the mosque near your workplace is emitting loud sounds through its speaker(s) – it's very likely to happen in Indonesia. You are discussing the possibility of a new contract with your important business partner while the smoke and ash of burning incense from a temple is making your eyes ache and distracting your concentration. Who is to tolerate who?

There is no win-win solution to this kind of thing. One has to swallow a bitter pill, whereas the other rejoices in the fulfillment of their wish. The end result might be in favor of the majority of inhabitants of the region.

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Why Dinosaurs?

Other than Jay Chou, another thing that might arise in my friends' minds when they think of me is surely dinosaurs. The fascinating beasts that come in all kinds of shapes and sizes have never ceased to intrigue me to date.

A Tyrannosaurus skeleton

As with most dinosaur fans all around the world, my liking for dinosaurs started early in life. In my childhood, I got a bunch of dinosaur books which were laden with numerous visuals designed to attract young readers. At one of his TED Talks, world-renowned paleontologist Jack Horner says, when asked what is behind children's love for dinosaurs, he usually replies that "dinosaurs were big, different, and gone" – although actually they are not gone, as Jack clarifies subsequently. I think it partly explains why these bizarre creatures captivated me as a little kid, because, as American paleontologist Steve Brusatte says in an Earth Unplugged video, "there's just something about dinosaurs, there's some magic to them, there's some indescribable essence to them."

Aside from the above mentioned reason, why dinosaurs? Why not Pokémon GO, which is arguably the most popular game nowadays? Why not anime and manga, of which a huge number of fan bases are scattered on the globe? Why not superheroes, like those created by Marvel and DC?

I would start with the most 'important' one: learning about dinosaurs means learning about the world as a whole, including ourselves. It takes us on a deep journey into prehistory, the time before we, humans, appeared on the scene, so that we can actually understand how our world works. We must take dinosaurs into account to really understand evolution, including how we came to be who we are. It is a pity that many people are ignorant of or even deny the theory of evolution; dinosaurs are a great tool to teach this (and science, in general – Steve says dinosaurs are "just an automatic gateway into science" in a science festival video) to the public and eradicate the misleading thought.

Knowing dinosaurs has also turned me into a more humble person. It has made me realize that we are just 'tiny' things – with a lifespan of around 70 years – existing in this vast, super old (around 4.6 billion years old), changing world and our species, Homo sapiens, is just a newcomer. Terrorism that is invading our planet – and seems to be getting more and more cruel and violent day by day – claiming an enormous number of lives, I believe, is a product of false understanding or a wrong view of the world. Together, as the human race, we need to strive for a better world for our continuous existence. I firmly believe and am very confident that dinosaurs can play an exceptionally important role in attaining world peace.

Dinosaurology is also extremely important as it significantly contributes to our knowledge of "how the earth has changed over time" (a phrase by Steve from his Earth Unplugged video The Dinosaur Expert that keeps reverberating in my head) and this relates to climate change, which is a global issue we are currently facing. Understanding this in should help us solve this urgent problem. Studying dinosaurs means studying the past in the present for the future.

Last but not least, seriously, what is more engaging than dinosaurs? Gigantic behemoths possessing extremely long necks and tails, big-headed vicious-looking predators equipped with lines of big serrated teeth, rhino-like animals boasting eye-catching head ornamentation, club-tailed creatures with body coverings reminiscent of tanks, and many more – not to mention 10,000 or so species of our feathered relatives: birds, the only surviving lineage of dinosaurs. Nothing, right?

Recommended articles:
Why dinosaurs are important by Dr Dave Hone
Dinosaurs Offer a Rich Field for Study of the Human Era by Mary H. Schweitzer
Beyond the Childhood Dinosaur Phase: Why Dinosaurs Should Matter to Everyone by Brian Switek
Dead dinosaurs and reasons for hope by Dr. Matt Bonnan
Why Dinosaurs Are An Important Part Of A Global Education (with Book Reviews & Resources)
Why study dinosaurs by Mike Taylor

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May All Beings Be Happy

Is it possible?

This saying kind of "tingled" my brain perhaps several years ago. Let's dissect this idea.

According to Macmillan Dictionary – one of my favorite dictionaries – "being" means "a living thing". Therefore, "all beings" are all living things, which include all humans, animals, plants, as well as microorganisms, such as bacteria.

Now let's take a look at the second most important word in the phrase: "happy". The same dictionary defines "happy" as "feeling pleasure and enjoyment because of your life, situation, etc." (I don't think anybody would disagree with this definition)

Now that we, hopefully, understand what the sentence means, let's move on to the question that has made me ponder: Is it likely that all beings will be happy?

Lions and zebras. I believe everyone knows the relationship between these two types of animals. To put it simply, lions try to hunt zebras and zebras try not to be hunted by the "kings of the jungle". Do zebras want to be feasted on by lions? Of course not; that's why they run as fast as they can when lions are chasing them. Do lions want to let zebras eat grass peacefully? Definitely not since lions have to fill their rumbling stomachs or otherwise they will die. So I guess it is pretty clear that either lions are happy or zebras are happy. It is utterly impossible that both kinds of beings are happy (please let me know if there is a zebra approaching a lion in order to be devoured by the predator, or if somewhere on Earth a lion, while being surrounded by a dozen zebras, fasted until it died).

It is just one out of, I believe, a huge number of predator-prey relationships on this planet – birds and worms, grizzly bears and salmon, Tyrannosaurus rex and hadrosaurs, you name it. Parasitism (such as, the relationship between fleas and your neighbor's beloved dog) is another happiness-is-just-for-one-of-them association.

It appears that we live in an unfair and nasty world. But that's how nature works. Species strive to continue their existence with a broad spectrum of behavior, even if it requires members of other species to suffer or even die.

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Animal Abuse

On June 21, 2016, the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, perhaps familiarly known as the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, began in China, despite a cornucopia of opposition from inside and outside of the country. The dog-slaughtering event has aroused my desire to express my view on this fairly controversial topic: animal abuse.

Modern humans have existed for a relatively long time, around 200,000 years. Our ancestors must have fed on a wide variety of diets, including a great number of members of the animal kingdom. It makes a lot of sense to think so since the present time sees human consumption of numerous kinds of creatures – some of which you would probably gape at — as a means of surviving in the modern world. The Manadonese, a tribe native to Manado, one of the largest cities in Indonesia located in Celebes island, take it to an extreme. It is a common practice for the locals to eat bat, cat, and rat meat, as well as dog and monkey. Perhaps this ethnic group is comparable to the Chinese, who are also known to indulge themselves in enjoying a vast range of foods made out of animal flesh.

Is it morally wrong to kill a dog and devour it? Does it deserve to be abhorred to take out a clowder of cats and cook "steaks" out of them? As with a bunch of other things, humans can't be separated from culture. Different cultures may have differing attitudes toward this issue. Those who are accustomed to it would say it is perfectly all right – it might be weird for them not to eat a certain kind of animal. On the other hand, others might see this sort of act as being cruel and evil.

Actually it is not really difficult to work out why this can happen. People grow in different environments and are shaped by them. It is worth mentioning that humans naturally have feelings, such as compassion. Dog and cat lovers would say a BIG yes in reply to the two questions posed at the beginning of the previous paragraph. Being in contact with these types of animal for a long time – perhaps in most cases, since the creatures were born – have certainly generated affection and pity in them, hence the disfavor.

There was a controversy relating to this matter in Indonesia a few months ago: dog lovers protested to the owner of a pet shop in South Tangerang against a puppy/puppies being fed to the snake pet(s). When I first noticed this, I thought, What would snake lovers do if they knew this? Would they protest to the dog lovers?

It seems silly to actually grumble about this situation. If the human race has maintained their existence in varied ways, why should we, the current generation, feel agitated? In my opinion, as long as it doesn't have a negative effect on our species' survival, it really is no problem. (Some people might have a thought that it is simply wrong to kill an animal. However, do they care about the massacre of countless chickens that will end up at KFC's and McDonald's tables every day? I believe not – consistency is the key here.)

I am suddenly reminded of the killing of Harambe, a gorilla in the Cincinnati Zoo, the U.S., which took place recently. He was shot dead with the intention to prevent a young boy who had fallen into the gorilla's territory from experiencing imminent death. While I agree that we need to conserve biodiversity, saving living things from extinction, our species has always to take priority over others.

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Death

The younger brother of my late grandfather has just passed away. The decease of the relative of mine propelled me into a state of questioning one of man's ever discussed subjects: death.

Birth and death are two phenomena that (must) take place in a person's life. People were born into this world via their mothers' – or in some cases, others' – wombs and will die of something (an accident, disease, shock, a combination of several damaging things, or some other cause) someday down the road. It seems that the human race still hasn't found a way to stop the latter from happening.

Death actually is a natural thing. If you think about it, all creatures, including dinosaurs, die. Species continually disappear and give rise to others, letting them fill the niches left behind.

However, Homo sapiens is a limit-breaking species. It is so astonishing that they have always achieved things that they always wanted to (think of the telephone, airplane, Internet, and the like). So, it won't be stupefying that some time to come humans can prevent the so-called unstoppable event.

The next question would be "What happens after death?" The quick answer is we don't know. Religions provide varied answers to this mystery, at least some of them referring to the concept of Heaven and Hell. But frankly speaking, we just don't have the faintest idea about what really happens after the "frightening" occurrence.

How long is a human's life? I guess it is, on average, in the region of 70 years or so. I think, with such a limited lifespan and our incapabilities to know when we will die, it would be wise to consider death as a humbling reminder of our "mere" existence and a motivation to make the most of our lives.

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True Man

I am writing this post partly because of the book I am currently reading, The Good Women of China by Xinran. In this book, which tells tales of the past lives of Chinese women, there are many accounts of men doing appalling things. In one chapter, a Chinese woman described all men as "filthy, lustful, bestial, and brutal", a conclusion that she made based on the gang rape she experienced when she was a teenager. It is just one of the many dreadful deeds of men's written in this book.

Another reason is my observation of men around me. Try living in Jakarta and you will understand right away. Traffic violations, including drivers running a red light, which is essentially dangerous, are so common in this city that they seem to have become a normal and acceptable practice (most drivers are males). One of the closest men of mine was (and probably is still) a gambler. And I can feel strongly that he is an idle man and not willing to learn. The result? There have been a lot of irritating effects imposed by him on me. I once met a university friend at Grand Indonesia, one of my favorite shopping centers in Jakarta. He, who was already married at that time, told me something that suggests that it is okay to enjoy "beautiful views"; they refer to other women's appearances.

Talking of Indonesia, corruption, violence, murder, and sexual harassment committed by men appear regularly in this country's media. One of the most recent pieces of shocking news is an already married man killed his pregnant girlfriend and mutilated her. This vile act happened in Tangerang, a big city which borders Jakarta. What is more, I have heard lots of saddening stories of unfaithful husbands, who might have made vows that they would be loyal to their wives until the ends of their lives whatever happened.

So, what does this mean? All of these (and other similar things) have made me think of myself, think of my existence. The world is filled with masses of evil men; they behave destructively in many different ways. I regard them as the antithesis of role models; I must be a true man. I feel the urge to be a good man, a respectable citizen, a devoted and loving husband, and so on. That is actually an honorable goal that all men have to achieve, including me.

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