Little Place of Kamaruddin

Hari ini…

Di persimpangan jalan, seorang pengemis tua duduk bersama seorang bocah di pembatas jalan. Si ibu berkulit gelap, dihiasi kerutan tua mendekap bocah laki-laki yang tertawa riang. Hari itu adalah hari yang biasa bagi mereka. Duduk di pembatas jalan, menunggu sisa kasihan dari orang yang lalu lalang. Si bocah mencium kedua pipi dan kening si ibu kemudian tertawa. Si ibu tersipu lalu menatap kosong ke depan. Mungkin lelah menunggu sesuatu untuk dibawa pulang hari itu. Dua orang yang (mungkin) sudah dianggap tidak ada. Si bocah lalu mengganggu si ibu kembali. Diambilnya sekeping uang logam, diletakkan di atas kepala si ibu. Beberapa kali dilakukan si bocah sampai saatnya si ibu menyerah, ikut tertawa bersama si bocah lalu menciumnya sayang.

Mobil SUV besar buatan Jepang membatasi aku dan mereka. Bercanda riang tak peduli sepasang mata memandang sedari awal.

Sial! Sekelilingku menyalak, menggonggongku dengan keras! Lampu kurang ajar itu masih merah, tinggal beberapa detik lagi. 2 menit sekian detik adalah waktu yang terlalu lama bagi kebanyakan orang. Bagiku, waktu tersebut saya belajar sesuatu.

LOVE ME
Collin Raye
All I Can Be (1991)
Video

I read a note my Grandma wrote
Back in 1923
Grandpa kept it in his coat
And he showed it once to me
He said, Boy you might not understand, but a long long time ago
Grandma’s daddy didn’t like me none
But I loved your Grandma so

We had this crazy plan to meet
And run away together
Get married in the first town we came to and live forever
But nailed to the tree where we were supposed to meet instead
I found this letter
And this is what it said:

“If you get there before I do
Don’t give up on me
I’ll meet you when my chores are through
I don’t know how long I’ll be
But i’m not gonna let you down
Darling wait and see
And between now and then
Until I see you again
I’ll be loving you
Love, me”

I read those words just hours before
my Grandma passed away
In the doorway of a church
Where me and Grandpa stopped to pray
I know I’ve never seen him cry
In all my fifteen years
But as he said these words to her
His eyes filled up with tears

“If you get there before I do
Don’t give up on me
I’ll meet you when my chores are through
I don’t know how long I’ll be
But i’m not gonna let you down
Darling wait and see
And between now and then
Until I see you again
I’ll be loving you . . .
Love, me”

And between now and then
Until I see you again
I’ll be loving you . . .
Love, me

—
Note:
I don’t know Collin Raye and his country music very much except for “In This Life“. But after listening to and scanning the lyrics “Love, Me”, my eyes are filled with tears. “Love, Me” is a popular funeral song.

If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.

– Martin Luther King Jr.

Pernahkah anda bertanya-tanya, siapa yang jasanya paling sering anda pakai? Karena seringnya, seseorang tersebut mungkin sempat menyaksikan anda tumbuh dari kecil hingga dewasa. Yang secara tidak langsung meninggalkan segores kecil di halaman kehidupan anda. Seseorang yang secara tidak sadar masih tetap dibutuhkan sampai saat ini. Bagi saya mereka adalah dokter dan tukang cukur.

More…

I’m still using the-old-faithful Oxford Advanced Genie until I stumbled across the net to Lingoes. Firstly, I thought it’s just another dictionary, yet I was wrong.

Here are some of the best features:

1. Free!
2. Portable. No installation needed.
3. The ability to add (FREE) dictionaries from Lingoes’s project, eg. Wordnet English, Cambridge Advanced Learner’s, Merriam-Webster’s etc.
4. Multilanguage (over 60 languages). You can have a French, Japanese, Arabic, Vietnamese dictionaries.
5. Text translation service via online translation sites
6. Word/text pronunciation
7. Small footprint. Takes only ~5 MB for base program. (~53 MB with 6 additional comprehensive English dictionaries)

Know a better one? Please share.