Cool Religion!!

Hinduism is the coolest religion ever!!! we have at least 100 Gods/Goddesses to chose from who to pray to... that if we do wanna pray... and the coolest thing tho is that those Gods/Goddesses have their own thing and their thing is cool

Shiva... is a stonner... he drinks BHANGE to get high which btw is made of marijuana extract... so we have a stoned God here... (ever wonder why all his pics/statues have His eyes half closed?) he is stoned most of the time... live by fruits n leaves and have human ashes all over his body... n we pray to Him. Imagine if any1 else pulls such a stunt.... he will be cursed n fingers will be pointed at him n his families n every1 associated with him...but well if Shiva does it... y cnt any1 else?

Krishna...he flirted with all the Gopis in Gokul n the neighboring village. Married 16000 women n satisfies each of them every singe nite... n yet he says his heart belongs to Radha... if a man marries more than 1 woman, y is he cursed then??? as long as he could satisfy n cover all the women needs... he is not doing any sin.

Dewi Ma... she has so much rage n anger within her... she jz takes her sword n chop off tht dude's head! how cool is tht??

Rama... yes... he did everything by the book... letting Sita get kidnapped so tht He cud kill Ravan... then not trusting his ever pure wife told her to walk into the fire to prove she is still pure. N as if the torture to Sita is not enuf, he sends her to the jungle when she was pregnant because he did not want his public to think he wasnt strong enough as man tht he accepted his wife back even tho she had stayed in sm other dude's palace for year. And when her kids came to Rama, he did not believe they were his... he still doubted Sita... n tht was the last strike! she let the earth took her in back...

now do u still wonder y men in India treat their wives like shit? coz the lord they pray to every single morning did the same thing years ago.... go figure!

Bhrama lied to Shiva n Vishnu jz so that he has fame as the highst God

See,,, how colorful HIndu religion is???

A stonner, a flirt, an anger driven warrior princess, a king that puts other people's view first, and an ego maniac liar...as Gods/Goddesses

so well... y r we judged then? when our Gods do what we do as well?

ps: no offence to u all fanatics.... i know there is a reason behind every character of these gods/goddesses... n i keep on learning about them so no... i didnt right this down based on superficial judgement... n yes i do know the religious stories... i wrote this jz for fun... for a laugh n well to show tht we all cn relax coz Gods do stupid stuffs 2 :)

Must Read :)

Sayang kalau kiriman artikel berikut ini dilewatkan begitu saja. Selamat membacanya.

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LIMA belas tahun lalu saya pernah mengajukan protes pada guru sebuah sekolah
tempat anak saya belajar di Amerika Serikat.

Masalahnya, karangan berbahasa Inggris yang ditulis anak saya seadanya itu telah
diberi nilai E (excellence) yang artinya sempurna, hebat, bagus sekali. Padahal
dia baru saja tiba di Amerika dan baru mulai belajar bahasa. Karangan yang dia
tulis sehari sebelumnya itu pernah ditunjukkan kepada saya dan saya
mencemaskan kemampuan verbalnya yang terbatas. Menurut saya tulisan itu buruk,
logikanya sangat sederhana.

Saya memintanya memperbaiki kembali, sampai dia menyerah. Rupanya karangan
itulah yang diserahkan anak saya kepada gurunya dan bukan diberi nilai buruk,
malah dipuji. Ada apa? Apa tidak salah memberi nilai? Bukankah pendidikan
memerlukan kesungguhan? Kalau begini saja sudah diberi nilai tinggi, saya
khawatir anak saya cepat puas diri. Sewaktu saya protes, ibu guru yang menerima
saya hanya bertanya singkat. "Maaf Bapak dari mana?" "Dari Indonesia," jawab
saya. Dia pun tersenyum.

Budaya Menghukum

Pertemuan itu merupakan sebuah titik balik yang penting bagi hidup saya. Itulah
saat yang mengubah cara saya dalam mendidik dan membangun masyarakat.

"Saya mengerti," jawab ibu guru yang wajahnya mulai berkerut, namun tetap
simpatik itu. "Beberapa kali saya bertemu ayah-ibu dari Indonesia yang
anak-anaknya dididik di sini,"lanjutnya. "Di negeri Anda, guru sangat sulit
memberi nilai. Filosofi kami mendidik di sini bukan untuk menghukum, melainkan
untuk merangsang orang agar maju. Encouragement! " Dia pun melanjutkan
argumentasinya.

"Saya sudah 20 tahun mengajar. Setiap anak berbeda-beda. Namun untuk anak
sebesar itu, baru tiba dari negara yang bahasa ibunya bukan bahasa Inggris,
saya dapat menjamin, ini adalah karya yang hebat," ujarnya menunjuk karangan
berbahasa Inggris yang dibuat anak saya. Dari diskusi itu saya mendapat
pelajaran berharga. Kita tidak dapat mengukur prestasi orang lain menurut
ukuran kita.

Saya teringat betapa mudahnya saya menyelesaikan study saya yang bergelimang
nilai "A", dari program master hingga doktor. Sementara di Indonesia, saya harus
menyelesaikan studi jungkir balik ditengarai ancaman drop out dan para penguji
yang siap menerkam. Saat ujian program doktor saya pun dapat melewatinya
dengan mudah.

Pertanyaan mereka memang sangat serius dan membuat saya harus benar-benar siap.
Namun suasana ujian dibuat sangat bersahabat. Seorang penguji bertanya dan
penguji yang lain tidak ikut menekan, melainkan ikut membantu memberikan jalan
begitu mereka tahu jawabannya. Mereka menunjukkan grafik-grafik yang saya buat
dan menerangkan seterang-terangnya sehingga kami makin mengerti. Ujian penuh
puja-puji, menanyakan ihwal masa depan dan mendiskusikan kekurangan penuh
keterbukaan. Pada saat kembali ke Tanah Air, banyak hal sebaliknya sering saya
saksikan. Para pengajar bukan saling menolong, malah ikut "menelan"
mahasiswanya yang duduk di bangku ujian.

Ketika seseorang penguji atau promotor membela atau meluruskan pertanyaan,
penguji marah-marah, tersinggung, dan menyebarkan berita tidak sedap
seakan-akan kebaikan itu ada udang di balik batunya. Saya sempat mengalami
frustrasi yang luar biasa menyaksikan bagaimana para dosen menguji, yang maaf,
menurut hemat saya sangat tidak manusiawi. Mereka bukan melakukan
encouragement, melainkan discouragement. Hasilnya pun bisa diduga, kelulusan
rendah dan yang diluluskan pun kualitasnya tidak hebat-hebat betul. Orang yang
tertekan ternyata belakangan saya temukan juga menguji dengan cara menekan.

Ada semacam balas dendam dan kecurigaan. Saya ingat betul bagaimana guru-guru di
Amerika memajukan anak didiknya. Saya berpikir pantaslah anak-anak di sana mampu
menjadi penulis karya-karya ilmiah yang hebat, bahkan penerima Hadiah Nobel.

Bukan karena mereka punya guru yang pintar secara akademis, melainkan
karakternya sangat kuat: karakter yang membangun, bukan merusak.

Kembali ke pengalaman anak saya di atas, ibu guru mengingatkan saya. "Janganlah
kita mengukur kualitas anak-anak kita dengan kemampuan kita yang sudah jauh di
depan," ujarnya dengan penuh kesungguhan. Saya juga teringat dengan rapor
anak-anak di Amerika yang ditulis dalam bentuk verbal.

Anak-anak Indonesia yang baru tiba umumnya mengalami kesulitan, namun rapornya
tidak diberi nilai merah, melainkan diberi kalimat yang mendorongnya untuk
bekerja lebih keras, seperti berikut. "Sarah telah memulainya dengan berat, dia
mencobanya dengan sungguh-sungguh. Namun Sarah telah menunjukkan kemajuan yang
berarti." Malam itu saya mendatangi anak saya yang tengah tertidur dan mengecup
keningnya. Saya ingin memeluknya di tengah-tengah rasa salah telah memberi
penilaian yang tidak objektif.

Dia pernah protes saat menerima nilai E yang berarti excellent (sempurna),
tetapi saya mengatakan "gurunya salah". Kini saya melihatnya dengan kacamata
yang berbeda.

Melahirkan Kehebatan

Bisakah kita mencetak orang-orang hebat dengan cara menciptakan hambatan dan
rasa takut? Bukan tidak mustahil kita adalah generasi yang dibentuk oleh sejuta
ancaman: gesper, rotan pemukul, tangan bercincin batu akik, kapur, dan
penghapus yang dilontarkan dengan keras oleh guru, sundutan rokok, dan
seterusnya. Kita dibesarkan dengan seribu satu kata-kata ancaman: Awas...;
Kalau,...; Nanti,...; dan tentu saja tulisan berwarna merah menyala di atas
kertas ujian dan rapor di sekolah.

Sekolah yang membuat kita tidak nyaman mungkin telah membuat kita menjadi lebih
disiplin. Namun di lain pihak dia juga bisa mematikan inisiatif dan
mengendurkan semangat. Temuan-temuan baru dalam ilmu otak ternyata menunjukkan
otak manusia tidak statis, melainkan dapat mengerucut (mengecil) atau
sebaliknya, dapat tumbuh. Semua itu sangat tergantung dari ancaman atau
dukungan (dorongan) yang didapat dari orang-orang di sekitarnya. Dengan
demikian kecerdasan manusia dapat tumbuh, sebaliknya dapat menurun. Seperti yang
sering saya katakan, ada orang pintar dan ada orang yang kurang pintar atau
bodoh.

Tetapi juga ada orang yang tambah pintar dan ada orang yang tambah bodoh.

Mari kita renungkan dan mulailah mendorong kemajuan, bukan menaburkan ancaman
atau ketakutan. Bantulah orang lain untuk maju, bukan dengan menghina atau
memberi ancaman yang menakut-nakuti. (*)

RHENALD KASALI
Ketua Program MM UI

Traffic!!!

I often complain about the roads in jakarta; how I can't stand the traffic, the busses and polices that do nothing... how driving in jakarta is a challenge to ur body soul and mind. How it is a test for ur patients and toxic to ur soul. And I noticed many others complained the same.

Complaining is easy, criticizing the government and people is very easy, i realized that. But to change or to do something about it is hard. And the fact is, if we want a change, it gotta start from us!!

The whole thing is a cycle, we blame the city for not providing good enough public transport, and blame for the in-proportionate ratio of cars and roads, and all the other things. And in return, we are blamed for not driving properly and following the rules, or not paying taxes, or buying more cars than we need in a family and for taking too many cars from same starting place to the same destination and other complaints. We criticize them, they criticize us and the end results are always not pretty. For example, I heard rumors that parking buildings are to raise their parking fee to 10000 per hour. No doubt its one of their ways to reduce car usage. But what they don't realize is by doing so there will be plenty of wild inappropriate parking on the roads and would in fact cause more traffic.

So I propose to make a change starting from us, car drivers. We can do simple things, such as:

1. Follow the road rules... for example; when the light turn yellow it means be prepare to stop, not rush in 10 seconds before it turns red. Not to park in places not spose to park. Not entering the bus way lane, etc etc

2. Not to encourage wild parking areas by not parking on the side roads and all

3. Car pool... if we know people from our area are going to the same destination or area... arrange a car pool instead of each one of us bringing oour own car.

4. Utilize the public transport. I know this one seems the most ridiculous one because lets face it the public transports here are shit! and the city are not doing anything about it. But maybe if more and more people utilize public transport then maybe from the income and more complaints from clients would compel them to make it better.

5. Not to encourage bribery... the ticket isn't that expensive to pay for, so y encourage bribes to the polices who obviously were jz trying to get money. Yes, perhaps it is a hassle to have to go to the court and wait hours for ur case to be reported... but some sacrifice should be made :) and its nt tht much hassle if u send sm1 in ur place and/or come a lil late so u dun need to stay for long.

6. When for a change we do go on foot, we try to utilize the side walk (if possible), the bridge to cross and not cross in the middle of the road and walk as slowly as possible like a snail even when cars are queuing to pass (hate walkers that do this :s)

7. Not to stop a taxi or any other public transport in the middle of the road.

8. Be a lil less irritated while driving and rushing trough all the time and cut other cars off. See if the queue of cars from the other side is already ridiculously long then jz let sm cars pass first.

9. Be smart in driving... give others way but also dun be too naive to let every other car cut u off.

10. Drive at reasonable speed pleaasssee!! not too freakin speeding and not too slow...

11. Refrain from distractions such as talking on the phone, texting, making out, while driving to avoid driving recklessly... either too slow or driving on the wrong lane or the middle... causing other cars not be able to pass

12. be considerate

I myself hv started to follow those and try my best in doing so. Altho its perhaps hard, but not impossible that will make a change. And change always have to start from one step, one person, one community...

Who is with me????

Random Thoughts

Sacrifices are always around, whether we want them or not. Doing the right thing is always difficult and the consequences are always within our lost and they seldom get better.

Being selfish is bad, but sometimes when the person we count on is taking advantage of us, being selfish is a form of defense.

Building bridges from a scratch is a hard work and sometimes those bridges are built by sacrificing things that are important to us and people we care about.

Choices are always around the corner and we always have to choose one. There is no right or wrong choices, there are only those that make us happy, that make us feel complete.

Our victory often turned out to be our lost and our lost often turned out to be in our best interest.

Human mind are always analyzing things that went wrong and focus there instead of seeing the beauty of what went right and make it better.

The right person comes when we see their flaw as their point of attraction. The right person comes when we stop being too hard on ourselves. The right person comes when we are ready to accept ourselves as who we are and love another as much as we love ourselves.

Every person that comes to our lives always leave memories, lessons, footsteps in our heart and takes us a step further in creating ourselves. Some leaves scars and burns, but those marks will only remind us not to sting others.

Every time we give up on something, there's always something around to give us hope…if we'd only see.

Every time we have our heart broken and thought we would never love again, comes a person that shows us the beauty of love and life once again.

-RandoMind-

Rush Hour!

I hate the traffic and rush hours in jakarta, no doubts!! Hate the fact that metrominis and motor cycles rules the road and car owners got not rights to complain. Hate the fact that traffic polices just wave their hands like a welcoming doll but do nothing in real. hate the fact that these polices choose nice cars, and most often a lone female driver, to catch and get bribes from.. Hate everything about the roads of Jakarta! Had enough of it!!!

But as wise people say, u learn something from everything u encounter... and so did i in the traffic i hate.

When a car cuts my way i get annoyed and angry and i start cursing and sometimes flip him off. But then at another occasion when i'm in a hurry to reach some place, i do the same thing. I cut in front of a car that's driving slowly. So then i realize... i'm not much different than those other cars, nor am i better. I do the same thing, but somehow i expect others don't do that to me. How is that fair?

We tend to not realize our own behavior but we are always trying to change others. We always expect to be treated better when we ourselves perhaps have hurt of disrespect others, whether intentionally or not. That is perhaps the most selfish behavior of humans.

Y try to change others when we can't modify our own behavior. Why judge when we do the same thing. Why expect others to be on our level of understanding when we don't make an effort to be at theirs?

live and let live. Forgive and smile... Life's too beautiful to make a fuss about small things :)

-RandoMind-