My name is Lina and I am just a simple person

It is totally hard for me when one of my best friends said to me,”Lina you have a potential to be a bad person with all you have, you have confidence, you are a risk taker, and you are brave…” I was shocked to hear that. What is wrong to have a great confidence? What is wrong if I am brave enough to take a risk? Then the next question was, “Do you think you can be like someone like that?” I couldn’t answer it spontaneously.
I answered that question,” I don’t think so; I had a father who raise me with a great value of life and he taught me well. And I have a wonderful mom who kept that value in me” My father came from a poor family; he had no chance to go to school. My mom just graduated from elementary school. For my parent the entire world is their classroom. They learned from their experiences, from no one to become someone. From mistakes to mistakes they built their character, their value of life, their world of wisdom. They made mistakes many times in their life but they kept themselves to move on. They taught me a lot of things which no school could even teach me. They taught me to be honest, to take responsibility, to make decision, to care for others, and more than I can share in this short note. There is nothing perfect in this world as my dad’s statement. I am not a perfect person; I am a combination of great value of my family and my education background. It combined together to create me and a long the way I learn to apply simple things to reach my understanding of wisdom.
My friend kept his opinion on me, he said” The way you speak and stand in front of people … show that you are different” I asked him back, “Is that something wrong to be different? I don’t mean to shine myself in front of people. I do everything with my best ability and if it comes out with a great appreciation from others, it is not my fault. I don’t compete with people around me; I don’t want to show off. I just do what I can do. When I write; I do it with my heart, when I speak I just want to share. One of my friends wrote in his book; don’t be a teacher if you don’t like to share. This world is my classroom which I can learn from others and I can share my experiences to others.”
In my life … while I am walking among people… I never think I want to be a star. I never chase popularity in my life. I just want be me as me and I want people to accept me as I am. I probably have potential to do great things in bad or good way, but I just want to do simple thing in a great way. I want people to remember me as a simple person.
I am just a simple person and in my life I have a simple wish that I want to share something small and something simple as part of leaning wisdom. The entire world is my classroom. Everything I do… It is a prayer to God that I am blessed to be a blessing for others. Why is too hard to see that? Maybe it is too simple to believe and to accept.
As Confucius said, “Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated “

Nothing is simpler than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lina Kartasasmita
Jakarta, July 10, 2010 at 8.20 PM

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