How Blind Can It Be?

I'm used to hear people say things such as:

"Is there anything in Vietnam?"
 or,
"Haven't you already been to Vietnam? You are going to Vietnam again??"
or,
"I have never think of traveling to Vietnam."

and even... "I hate Vietnam."

Although I have been using "Lock & Lock"s productS for quite awhile, I didn't realize until a few days ago that "Lock & Lock" is manufactured in Vietnam. So does the label under the bottle say: "Dibuat di: Vietnam". I checked my other water bottles and it was the same. I went to the supermarket to check the products on the shelve. Some had no labels, but many had. Just like mine.

Wow! Don't despise Vietnam, I said to myself. So now if someone asks what's so interesting about Vietnam, the answer is that because Vietnam can produce "Lock & Lock". Hahaha!

Thinking that everyone has his own likes and dislikes, I shared this photo with someone who loves Singapore but hates Vietnam. I shared this photo through Facebook by tagging him. I knew very well he didn't like Vietnam. I just meant to tease him, but of course in a friendly way.

He commented instead: I'm not interested :P *I hate Vietnam*

Well.. as a matter of fact, I didn't mean to seek for his interest at all. I thought we were friends. I thought friends use to tease each other. However, it didn't occur to me how serious his hatred for Vietnam was until I found out he had removed my tag.

Well... okay, it's just a tag. No big deal. But since it's just a tag on just a bottle (that happened to be manufactured in Vietnam), why bother to remove the tag? Friends sometimes tag me on their photos which don't really appeal to me or frankly speaking, I don't actually find interesting. But unless it's something inappropriate, I won't remove the tag. Ah...

Does he hate Vietnam that much that he must remove my tag from this photo of a water bottle? Does he feel ashamed that his friends would see a water bottle manufactured in Vietnam on his Facebook? Ah...

What wrong has Vietnam done to him? Vietnam is just a country and not his country, anyway.

However, more than a year ago, when I went to Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi, I was very, very surprised to learn that some of the traditions among the various ethnic groups in Indonesia actually originated from Vietnam. Most interestingly, his ethnic group was mentioned as one among the ethnic groups that inherited Vietnamese tradition. Aha! Have you heard the stories of historians suspecting Hitler to have a Jewish blood?

People say, love is blind. Which is more blind actually, love or hatred?

Semoga Ini (Cepat) Tidak Benar

kalau kamu ingin tahu
seperti apa indonesia itu
naiklah transjakarta

kalau kamu ingin lebih tahu
seperti apa karakter bangsanya
sering-seringlah naik transjakarta

kalau kamu lelah membaca sejarahnya
yang panjangnya berabad-abad itu
baca saja sejarah transjakarta hingga sekarang

oh ya, kalau kamu ingin tahu
apa bedanya pengemudi transjakarta dan supir angkot
jangan lihat jasnya!

Takut Karena Salah

Lagi-lagi Busway Transjakarta meledak ketika tengah melaju. Ketika ada yang memotret kejadian itu, 2 petugas (1 berseragam biru dan 1 berseragam batik) beserta pengemudinya mengeroyok si pemotret. Terutama pengemudinya, marah bukan main. Si Pemotret dibilang "maling". Berikut ini ucapan-ucapan Sang Pengemudi Transjakarta berinisial Are Pee tersebut.

"Kalau fotonya nanti masuk Facebook dan lain-lain, saya yang kena!" 

"Kalau fotonya sampai disebarluaskan dan ada apa-apa, situ tanggung jawab ya!"

"Ini cuma musibah. Ban meledak saja."

"Kalau motret pengemudi yang sedang bergaya, begini, begitu (pengemudi memasang gaya) boleh. Tetapi kalau motret plat nomor tidak boleh."

"Kalau memotret plat nomor, harus minta ijin petugas dulu."

"Tampang kayak gini nggak mungkin wartawan!"

"Kalau cowoq, udah gue gampar!"

"Nokia gue juga lebih keren!"

Kata Si Pemotret: "Mas memperlakukan saya seperti orang ketakutan begitu. Kalau Mas tidak merasa bersalah, mengapa Mas mesti marah?"

Jawaban Sang Pengemudi berjas itu: "Elu kalo banyak ngomong, gue bawa ke pos!"

Di bangku SD kelas empat dulu aku disuruh menghafalkan pepatah: Berani karena benar, takut karena salah. Semoga sikap aparat Transjakarta bukan cerminan negeri ini. Semoga.