Percaya di bibir. Percaya di hati.

Assalamualaikum wbt.

Pada hari yang agak sunyi ini, sedang saya menunggu antara aktiviti makmal, saya teringatkan suatu cerita dalam buku (yang saya masih belum habis baca) iaitu "Rich Brother Rich Sister" oleh Robert dan Emi Kiyosaki. Ya, ini buku yang saya masih mengulang baca entah berapa kali, kerana tarikan isi kandungannya. Tidak kisahlah, walaupun ada orang yang mengkritik prinsip-prinsip dalam buku Kiyosaki yang terdahulu, tetapi dalam penulisannya kali ini (yang merupakan biografi, bukan buku non-fiksyen biasa), beliau menceritakan pengalaman menarik semasa beliau muda dahulu.

Buku, sumber review di sini.

 Adapun semasa muda dahulu, ketika baru keluar daripada kemelut kebangkrapan perniagaan terdahulu dan baru berkahwin semula selepas penceraian pertama, Robert masih di awang-awangan tentang hala tuju hidupnya. Dalam hatinya terfikir akan untuk berniaga lagi, tetapi ideanya mengenai "berniaga dengan niat untuk Tuhan" takut tidak menjadi. Namun, beliau bertemu dengan rakan lama yang agak ala-ala Hippie....tetapi memberikan nasihat yang paling berharga. Kisah teladan mengenai lelaki di Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls. (source)

"Pada suatu hari di tepi Niagara Falls terdapat seorang lelaki dengan basikalnya. Apabila ditanya oleh orang ramai mengapa beliau di situ, beliau menjawab, 

"Saya mahu lintas Niagara Falls naik basikal...atas wayar nipis! Siapa percaya pada saya?

Ramai yang ragu namun ramai juga yang memberi sokongan. Lalu lelaki itu meniti wayar nipis itu, berkayuh dari hujung, ke hujung. Penonton menunggu dengan penuh debaran. Tidak lama kemudian, dia turun dengan selamat.

 

Bukan gambar sebenar.(source)

Ramai penonton bersorak dan memberikan tahniah. "Hebat! Kami tahu awak mampu!" jerit mereka lagi.

Tiba-tiba, lelaki tersebut berteriak lagi,

"Sebab awak semua percaya pada saya....saya mahu lintas Niagara Falls lagi. Siapa nak ikut?"

Senyap, semua senyap.

(Source)

Tiba-tiba seorang kanak-kanak ke hadapan. "Saya nak ikut!"

Penonton mula terkejut. Kaget. Apabila budak itu mengikut lelaki berbasikal tadi ke wayar, penonton mula resah dan marah. Ada yanghendak  menelefon polis, ada yang terus meninggalkan tempat itu. Tetapi kanak-kanak kecil serta lelaki tadi tetap gigih, menaiki basikal itu.

Kemudian mereka melalui wayar itu. Pergi, dan balik.

Dan turun dengan selamat.

Penonton di tepi Niagara Falls (memang kena pakai baju hujan ya) (source)

Penonton kembali dan bersorak semula. Kagum. Mereka pun bertanya.

"Adik, adik beranilah! Kenapa adik sanggup pergi dengan lelaki ni, naik basikal melintas Niagara Falls? Bahaya tu!"

Adik itu menjawab,

"Nak tahu tak, lelaki ni ayah saya. Saya percaya dengan sepenuh hati padanya, bukan sekadar percaya di mulut."

Nilaikanlah, betapa ramai orang di dunia ini sebenarnya yang hanya percaya sekadar di bibir dan bukan percaya pada hati. Jika anda berbuat sesuatu dengan niat untuk Tuhan, maka percayalah; percaya dengan hati, bahawa dia akan bantu. Maka dia memang akan bantu." kata Hippie tersebut menutup ceritanya. 

Betul juga kan?

The Poor Can't School

Assalamualaikum WBT.

I wrote earlier this week about wishing for Dr Danial's book about the connection Religion and Science. Well, gues what?

I finally got them! Alhamdulillah! Ni yang sayang lebih sikit ni.

 And while I was walking around the book shop (more like, book fair because it's in a stall on a fete), I saw this book. 

It strike me because I was reminded of Laskar Pelangi  from Andrea Hirata, (which, I have NOT read yet), but it seems like both is about education in the hardcore poor kids. (oh, by the way, you can download Laskar Pelangi e-book, I did not know that! ). Laskar Pelangi was award winning, even went to movie and theater as well. 

and here's the book cover. Need to remeber cuz it's on my wishlist now!

Schooling

Basically, according to a fellow blogger here,  Orang Miskin Dilarang Sekolah (The Poor Can't School, in English) is about a poor kid from a poor family, living in an uber-poor village, trying to get some proper education for him and his friends. 

The odd thing is when I read the title, I'm reminded of the schoolboys and girls here in Malaysia. To think that we are all blessed with lots of schools and free textbooks all year and scholarships abundant, we still have the poor who can't school.

Yesterday I read of a news article about a child, barely 14, has stopped schooling. Her brothers and sisters had difficulty learning too, since the family is poor and her father keeps beating them up. They ran away and was saved by the authorities.

And that's not to mention people who don't go to school because they don't have identification card despite born and bread in Malaysia with Malaysian parents, plus those who are handicapped and stopped schooling because there are not enough facilities for handicapped people in schools in the area (trust me, my friend is one of them). 

Of course there are stories of kids who skipped school due to financial difficulties. Although yearly school fees are abolished, some "specific" fees imposed by schools still mantained; not to mention the inability of the parents to provide food and transport for the kid, resulting in skipping school. Of course there are scholarship, but the lucky, excellent few is entitled for them. Still, there are people who are poor but still insists on going to school anyway, while their parents trying to make ends meet to ensure their education.

Rich But Poor

However, on  the other end of the spectrum is people who CAN afford to go to school, but refuses to do so. We've seen them all back in our schooldays too--those who find every reason to skip school, those who reach school with a full pocket and brand new motorbike but drove away to hang out at the mall, those who would rather work than stay at school reading books and finishing assignments, and those who skipped school for the glitz and glam of showbusiness.

These are the people that I call Rich But Poor. Rich enough to afford to go to school, but poor enough because of lack of education. The people who think that education is IMPOSED on them, like it's a RESPONSIBILITY, rather than a PRIVILEGE.

For these people, I just wish they would switch places with the poor and see how it's like to spend your childhood working as if yuour livelihood depended on it. No same-age friends, no football field to play with, no sports room to borrow racquet to play badminton, no AV room to watch videos, no library to lounge and read romance novels, and no cheap, hot food from the cafetaria. 

All day, dusk till dawn, working all the way. That's what my friends are doing now. They toil away the day and go home at nine or ten p.m just to sleep till the next working day. And I am here, still studying. Every time they see me they go like "oh! how good it is to learn. Make the best of it. I know you hate it now, but you'll miss it when you go to the working world."

Remember when you see those kids playing truant at the mall, tell them education is a privilege. Go on, go educate yourself, go and find knowledge even if it means reaching China!

Salam :)