4-11 is My Moment of Zen: Lessons Learned

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I'm not a bad person. My deeds are nowhere near Hitler's or Stalin's. I don't endorse Daesh. I don't fancy violence. In fact, I'm just your average weak chubby guy.

But, the #AksiDamai that just happened lately got me thinking deeply as humanly possible. Here are three points that I learned from my reflection of the historical 4-11 rally in Jakarta:

• It's Relatively Safe to Trash Talk a Commander-in-Chief in Indonesia

It's strated with a peaceful morning rally in Jakarta. It turned ugly in the afternoon. Also, it's important to note that there were some alleged provocateurs among the crowd that triggered the riot, according to the police. The alleged culprits are reportedly now still being investigated by the officials.

It's a fact that it's a peaceful rally at first, and if we want to be fair, there's a riot in the end too.. And we can play the never-ending blame game now. Just don't involve me in the game, it's exshausting.

Apart from that aspect, as I specifically observed Facebook, I found out that it's relatively safe for the so-called peaceful rally supporters to insult their own President as a filthy coward, some might called him as a "dog", "pig" or whatever. After the event, it's effortless to find people share too much articles from credible media outlets with captions that you've never thought ever be written by certain people you (think you) know before.

I kid you not. Horrible stuff. 

Yes, you can write those kind of stuff quite freely online right now if you want and nothing's gonna happen. Trust me... or ummm.. don't?

So, I think it's fair to say that we're grateful to live in a fairly democratic country. Unlike people in these 10 Most Censored Countries according to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), we're lucky enough to be able to trash talk our slim, weak, powerless, awful, anti-critic, intolerant, insensitive, insane, low, undignified, demeaning, dishonorable, unbefitting Head of State.

Some people chose not to do it though. What's started peacefully should be ended and or reacted peacefully too if possible, I believe.

On that note, I couldn't be happier to acknowledge that, to some extent, Indonesians have better freedom in digitally criticizing, if not insulting the nation's symbol, than some people in Eritrea, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, North Korea and other countries mentioned in the above scientific document. 

Everybody enjoys Indonesian democracy. Apparently.

• My Moment of Zen: To Learn or Not To Learn

I chose to learn.

4-11 was my moment of Zen. I chose to listen more to people with opposing views, I learned to be level-headed in reacting to comments, I learned to refrain myself from doing or posting stupid things. 

Basically, I learned to be a better version of me.

It'll be a massive loss for me not learning from this historical event.

I learned that, whatever the case is, it's bad to forcefully and constantly push your personal aspirations toward someone. 

People have and will always have different views on things and it's not gonna change anytime soon. What I need to do is to learn how to deal with that fact and find out the best way to handle it.

What if the fundamental differences occur between me and my parents, or best friends, or romantic partner (I don't have any romantic partner by the way)?

How should I talk to them? 

How should I choose words to avoid hurting their feelings? 

How should I control my judgment toward others? 

How should I not feel a better human than them? 

How should I not think that Heaven is for me and Hell is for them?

You know, shits like that.

• Friendship is More Than Just Social Media Friends

Well, just because we're not friends in Facebook--probably because of being unfriended--doesn't mean we're not friends in the real world. Just because I don't follow you on Twitter, Instagram, Path or connect with you in LinkedIn, doesn't make me your enemy, does it?

It's not a big deal!

If it does though, I simply question your maturity. If that's so, this means some random Tahu Bulat vendors who aren't your Facebook friends are literally your enemy in the real world. Does it give you the license to treat him/her badly, rudely or inhumanly in the real world?

Mark my words; friendship is beyond digitally connected. Friendship is about chemistry, understand to each other, unconditional support, listen more, being appreciative, constructively critical and all other positive things. Ultimately, friendship is more than just becoming friends in social media.

The ugly truth is that..

I'M STILL YOUR FRIEND IN THE REAL WORLD!

I DON'T CARE!

I LOVE YOU, FRIENDS WITH DIFFERENT POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS VIEW!

I WILL ALWAYS DO!

I hope it's clear enough for everyone with any educational level.

I'm all right