to thank that we are mediocre

This post was actually somewhat related to my previous post.

Two days ago I was reading GoGirl! Magazine’s 6th anniversary edition.

Most of the readers praised this ‘Celebrities and Trends’ themed edition for its thickness, its excessive amount of fashion spread, cute tumbler that was bundled along as a bonus (it was reaaaally cute). It takes some time for me to get to this article: The Down Sides of Celebrities. I personally think this article is the best feature on Celebrity issue, for enlightening about the other side of glamorous celebrities live.

I hardly heard anything about Lindsay Lohan nowadays if it’s not about her being found in her car and was drunken, or having another hangover, or into the rehab all over again. I have never a fan of her and couldn’t care less about her since there is now lot of new comers who shine brighter, making her career seem even duller. But reading on her confession towards Los Angeles Confidential (which is featured in this very article) is just... sad.



“Being an actress is lonely. This industry is very lonely; I tend to get very lonely.”

I like this article for exposing the more personal perspective of a celebrity which known to be 'bad' and make us see that what she did is understandable, although not justifiable. About her confession, it was quite sad actually despite the fact that she once had had good career on Hollywood.

Rihanna confirmed this fact by stating, 

“In this business people are shallow, they are dishonest. You can’t trust them.”

Well, what do you expect? Since the industry is highly lucrative, being celebrity means that you’re going to be worth from what you look and what you do, not personalities. That’s why you can tell these celebs are actually feeling lonely, since there are only few ones who get close to them which are sincere. It may offer what the rest are craving for: fame and money (we know that majorities think that it will take those two to reach happiness and utter satisfaction in life). But in the other hand, celebrities are demanded to let their personal life be accessible as much as possible. Or in other words, it means they will have almost no privacy left for them. Not to mention disturbance from some freakish fans.

Being rich and remain unknown to the world that you are rich individual are better. Still, I think there will be a point when rich people find themselves feeling empty, realized that this is not what they are looking for in life, or ended up troubling themselves anxious about their assets (this is soooo not an ideal way of thinking of a successful yet rich business woman, I know :p). But if some ones are actually pleased living that kind of life, I think it depends on what purpose you expect your life to be.

I myself wouldn’t ask for tons of gold in my safe box or high pile of money.

Isn’t it just sufficient being loved by others and still having some relatives that do care much about us?

We are blessed enough, normal people.




quotes taken from: GoGirl! Magz
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Happiness is...

Manusia itu makhluk penuh ambisi. Katanya, harus ambisius biar ada tujuan hidup. Harus ambisius biar sukses. Sukses? Sukses itu apa? Kamu mau sukses supaya apa? Bahagia?

Katanya, sukses itu kalau kamu punya mobil sepuluh, rumah duapuluh, istri tigapuluh (eh...)
Serba banyak pokoknya.

Jadi, kalau punya harta yang udah sampai nggak bisa dihitung, mestinya kamu bahagia. Iya, kan?
Tapi banyak kan, orang yang nggak bahagia meskipun begitu. Padahal mau ngapain aja tinggal menjentikkan tangan, langsung terlaksana. Tapi kok rambutnya malah memutih sebelum umurnya? Kok sering sakit kepala kalau malam? Kok nggak tenang amat sampai perlu dijaga bodyguard?

Saya rasa mereka kadang memijat kepalanya sambil mensugesti diri.
'Setidaknya gue punya ini dan itu. Gue lebih baik dari mereka yang nggak punya apa-apa'

Eh...siapa bilang?
Mereka mungkin lebih mengerti arti kebahagiaan dari kamu, yang mengejarnya tapi malah hilang arah.
Karena mereka nggak pusing utang sana-sini, cukup mikir apa yang harus dimakan hari ini.

Dan bayangkan orang sederhana yang hidup serba cukup, tidak lebih tidak kurang, tanpa tahu ada orang lain untuk dijadikan perbandingan. Bukankah dia orang paling bahagia di dunia?

Jadi, mau yang mana?
orang kaya yang nggak pernah puas

atau

orang sederhana tapi bahagia?

Kalau saya mah,
maunya jadi yang sederhana. Lahir di tempat terpencil, nggak pernah mengecap yang namanya kekayaan atau keserakahan manusia. Nggak tersentuh oleh media yang menampilkan gemerlap dunia (Tahu E-channel nggak? Kalau nonton itu dijamin kamu bakal mendadak merasa jadi orang paling melarat sedunia). Nggak tahu di luar sana ada orang yang punya lembaran kertas bertuliskan angka-angka yang mereka anggap berharga. Saya mah, maunya cuma punya bunga-bunga kecil yang saya sirami setiap hari, supaya mereka bisa tersenyum sama mentari pagi. Makanan? Saya bisa masak sendiri dari kebun sayuran kecil yang saya punya di belakang rumah. Saya bahagia dan nggak merasa kekurangan. Karena nggak tau di luar sana ada orang yang punya lebih, lebih banyak makanan, lebih banyak tanah dan rumah, pokoknya lebih.
Maunya.

Tapi, kamu tahu kan...

...itu terlalu utopis.

Saya sudah merasakan sedikit ini dan sedikit itu (siapa juga yang nggak?). Sedikit uang, sedikit kekuasaan, sedikit pengetahuan, sedikit nafsu, sedikit kendali. Manusia kan nggak pernah puas, sedikit saja cukup untuk membuat mereka meminta lebih, termasuk saya. Tahu di dunia ini tolak ukurnya dilihat dari apa yang kita punya. Semua mendadak komersil. Semua bisa dibeli dengan uang. Katanya itu esensi hidup. Nggak heran semuanya berlomba mengumpulkan harta, supaya mendapat sedikit tempat dan pengakuan di antara manusia yang berjejalan. Eh, saya tanpa sadar ikut terseret lomba ini. Dan nggak bisa berhenti. Karena ini mengontaminasi. Karena sama kayak makanan, kalau kamu sudah ngerasain yang lebih enak, mana puas kalau disuruh makan yang pertama kali kamu coba?
Padahal saya cuma pengin bebas. Termasuk bebas dari tuntutan harus mengejar ini dan itu.

Gimana, dong?

sincerely,

Orang yang meracau di kala hari menjelang maghrib

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Le Petit Prince

...or widely known as 'The Little Prince'.
Written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, this book was originally published in French and is often used as beginner book's for French language student.

It's been recited in my previous post that I'm gonna write a review about this novella.
So here I am, fulfilling my promise.

This isn't my first attempt of reading this book, actually.
I've read it some time ago, and by the moment I finished reading it, I wasn't quite impressed by any features of this book.
I don't know whether it's because the translated version (Indonesian) I've been reading or I was too little to understand.

too little to understand.

Ha! We often think that we, adults, are waaay more in the upperhand of children, don't we?

Thus, this book somewhat altered my perspective.

The very first chapter of this book describes about how the character 'I' (narrator's point of view) who ever drawn this object when he was a little boy: an elephant which was being digested by a boa constrictor.

But, adults recognized that drawing as a hat (I do personally think that it would indeed looked like a hat, if you miss the small dot that meant to be the eye of the boa constrictor).

Then The Little Prince met the narrator, and in instance he recognized the drawing as what the narrator intended it to be.

That scene settles of what perspective this tale would be told: children's mind,
for there's a theory that says: a child's drawing may looks abstract (to adults) but children can recognize each others' drawing.

The Little Prince himself was described as a little boy who travelled along from one planet to another until he finally arrived on Earth. Each planet was inhabited by individuals which represents adults in their various ridiculous characters. They were: The King, The Conceited Man, The Businessman, The Drunkard, The Lamplighter, and The Geographer.

The King

The Businessman

The Drunkard

The Lamplighter

The Geographer

Those individuals, which told in the tenth chapter until the fifteenth, picture the characters of adults in extreme way of personification. For example, The Conceited Man who had been excessively proud of himself, craving for praise, and can't hear anything which is not considered as a form of adoration.
This actually satirize people who profoundly obsessed with respect.

The Conceited Man

One may say, " Who doesn't like being flattered anyway?"
True, but at some point these people might try to find any way, as well as doing bad deeds, in order just to receive higher status for the sake of praise.
Adults are like that.


But The Little Prince, with the innocence of a child, respond to this,
"...why should that mean so much to you anyway?"


I'm not gonna write any further about the other characters :)


The rest of the chapters told about The Little Prince's days of wandering on Earth. Each events represents things in life which being elaborated beautifully in words by Saint-Exupery.

The Little Prince and his rose

Like, the relationship between The Little Prince and The Fox, also between The Little Prince and his flower, teaches about love among two lovers, or could be friends. From The Fox, The Little Prince learnt how to love his rose, his only remarkable rose among the entire universe.

'Men have forgotten this basic truth,' said the fox. 'But you must not forget it. For what you have tamed, you become responsible forever. You are responsible forever'

'One runs the risk of crying a bit if one allows oneself to be tamed...'

'be tamed' here means if you put a feeling towards someone. Well said, eh?

I ended up profoundly fond of this novella after I finished reading it. Though it may be considered as a children's book, it left the readers with deep thinking afterwards and let it be widely interpreted. So yes, contrary to my first impression, this is one of the books I'd like to label:
a-must-read :)