The War<\/p>\n
By Sori Siregar<\/p>\n
My car came to a halt and the driver, Apin, turned off the
\nengine. I got out and walked carefully along the muddy alley so
\nthat I would not slip.<\/p>\n
Three boys were chasing each other toward my direction. Water
\nsplashed my pants when the boys run past me. They did not care
\nand kept on chasing one another. A woman craned her neck from a
\nwindow and shouted to the boys to stop running when someone is
\nwalking along the narrow street.<\/p>\n
I only smiled reminiscing about my childhood days. I walked
\nslowly. I kept on walking. The alley I passed through cut across
\na first, second and third alley. All alleys were similar in size.
\nThey were crowded with dilapidated houses and shanties made of
\nsacks. Used tires and bricks were clearly visible on the roofs of
\nseveral houses to prevent the roofs from being blown away by
\nstrong winds.<\/p>\n
When the alley I was walking along cut across the fourth alley
\nturned slightly to the left, I began to get confused. The map
\nIdris showed to me in the office was different from the actual
\nstreets. In my confusion someone addressed me. A young man
\ncovering the lower part of his body with a towel on his way home
\nfrom bathing in the river looked at me in a friendly way.<\/p>\n
After I told him where I was heading for he pointed in the
\ndirection I was supposed to take. I went back to the third alley
\nI had just cut across. From the intersection of the third alley
\nI only needed to walk about fifty meters.<\/p>\n
It was there, under a mango tree, I saw the young woman
\nteaching a number of children. It was the \"school\" Idris
\nfrequently told us about in the office. Idris had campaigned that
\nwe should show our social solidarity by helping such activities.<\/p>\n
\"There are still a lot of people around us needing help\" he
\nsaid. Sometimes his words were cutting.\" What we have in our
\nhands should not only be spent for ourselves. There is a portion
\nin it for others\".<\/p>\n
In order to witness more clearly how the children were
\nlearning in the \"school,\" I took a seat in a small coffee shop
\nabout fifteen meters away. While sipping hot coffee and smoking a
\ncigarette, I tried to listen to the lesson being taught by the
\nyoung woman.<\/p>\n
It was a reading lesson. The bigger children seemed to know
\nhow to read, that was the reason why the teacher only repeated
\nher lesson to the smaller children. Once in a while the teacher
\nreprimanded the bigger children because they were busy talking to
\neach other while she taught the smaller children.<\/p>\n
Three guys enjoying their coffee in the coffee house paid no
\nattention at all to the \"school\" which was a stone throw away
\nfrom where they were seated. They talked to one another
\nenthusiastically, laughed and teased each other using vulgar
\nlanguage. I guessed that they were inhabitants of this slum.
\nIdris's information may be right. In this slum lived many kinds
\nof people; drivers, pickpockets, pedicab drivers, street vendors,
\nprostitutes and those who earned a living by scraping trash heaps
\nto find something that could be sold.<\/p>\n
Fed up with their increasingly indecent useless chatter, I
\nleft the coffee shop after paying my bill. After a few steps I
\nstopped and looked back at the children from the \"school\"
\nstudying under the mango tree. Then I continued walking. I did
\nnot go back to my car straightaway. For half an hour I walked
\nthrough the alleys there. When I got back to my car I did not
\nfeel anything in particular.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
I was having my lunch when Idris came and sat down next to me.
\nHe told me many stories. After carrying-out his duty in a clinic
\na young doctor served poor people for free. In addition, the
\nyoung doctor also opened his rented house to a number of homeless
\nchildren and paid their school fees.<\/p>\n
Then another unique story followed. A rich businessman sent
\nhis son to an orphanage to give him the opportunity to understand
\nwhat a modest life was like without the guidance of his parents.
\nFurthermore, the businessman collected leftover bread and other
\nunused food-stuffs from various hotels for the orphanage and
\nother childrens' homes. His kindness also extended to almost
\nevery needy family in town.<\/p>\n
I liked listening to his stories. Almost everyday he told me
\ninteresting stories. His subjects were always poor people and the
\npowerless, oppressed, neglected, forgotten, the victims of unfair
\ntreatment and those deprived of their rights.<\/p>\n
An eloquent story teller, Idris had tirelessly described it
\nall to me as if he were asking me to write them in a thick best-
\nselling book. I was an interested listener. When Idris told the
\nsame stories to my colleagues in the office they also listened
\nintently with interest. Sometimes in his enthusiasm about his
\nstories, Idris showed his partisanship. Therefore, he did not
\ndeny it when Desmal said that he was campaigning about social
\nsolidarity to us. He even nodded.<\/p>\n
When all of us burst into laughter, Idris joined us, in his
\nimpassioned excitement.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Idris who was negotiating with a representative of Elmer
\nCompany from Germany in Mandarin Hotel had not yet showed up. The
\nnegotiation perhaps had been difficult, or Idris was trapped in a
\ntraffic jam.<\/p>\n
I was talking to a visitor when the telephone rang.
\nEnthusiastically Idris made his report. Not about his negotiation
\nwith the representative of the Elmer Company but about a group of
\npeople who came to the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Their land had been bulldozed without proper compensation. At
\nthe time Idris called me, the group were still waiting to see the
\nHouse speaker. Idris said he would wait there until the group
\ntalked to the speaker.<\/p>\n
Without commenting I hung up because my visitor needed my
\nattention. Furthermore, it was in the interests of the company. I
\npaid no attention when the phone rang again. I was certain it
\nmust be from Idris.<\/p>\n
I never imagined that what I had done had been wrongly
\ninterpreted by him. One hour after the call Idris appeared in my
\nroom. He looked upset. I thought he would tell me first the
\nresult of his talk with the representative of the German company
\nbefore making his report to the director. I was waiting.<\/p>\n
He was still standing in front of me, something he had never
\ndone before when he came to see me.<\/p>\n
\"How was it ?\"<\/p>\n
He said nothing and kept staring at me. Failure, I thought. As
\na negotiator he had failed in his negotiation with the German
\ncompany.<\/p>\n
\"Negative?\" I asked him.<\/p>\n
\"Yes, negative,\" he answered sharply. \"A working colleague, a
\nschool mate who used to be in poverty and suffered, has now
\nturned out to be a person who has no heart or feelings\".<\/p>\n
I was startled. He was no longer teasing but making an
\naccusation. I never expected such a response. I fell silent.<\/p>\n
\"Hendar\" he continued.\" I am tired of trying to raise your
\nawareness. You are untouched by my words. Actually you bear a
\ngrudge against poverty and others' suffering. For you, all of
\nthat is just a normal thing and there is no need to pay attention
\nto it\".<\/p>\n
I stared at him coldly. I was not moved to react.<\/p>\n
\"When you knew Parmin's son died because the company had cut
\nhis medical allowance, you said nothing. You kept on debating
\nwith Agus about the acquisition of a number of businesses. Even,
\nwhen I said Parmin fainted because of his son's death, you and
\nAgus seemed to turn a deaf ear\".<\/p>\n
I kept on staring at Idris.<\/p>\n
\"So many times I talked to you about the environment that
\nneeds our attention. But not politics and the business
\nenvironment. And you always looked upon them as entertaining
\nstories. As a matter of fact you have walked too far from your
\npast. Then, just now when you hung up, I really felt that you are
\na complete stranger, a stranger I have never known. I was
\nseriously disappointed. There is no longer any space in your
\nheart to see and be sympathetic to others or to do something for
\nanother's world beyond your own world\".<\/p>\n
I kept silent. Realizing that I was struck dumb by what he had
\nsaid, Idris turned and left my room. I shook my head after
\npondering for a while. Was it right what Idris had said? No. I
\ndid not believe it. Idris had dramatized everything. It was he
\nwho was the odd person, not me. He had no right to challenge my
\nstance. After receiving that lecture from Idris I still did not
\nfeel anything. How weird.<\/p>\n
After a long silence I came to the conclusion Idris might be
\nright. Only a terrible internal war inside myself could sharpen
\nmy dull conscience. But such a war never broke out. And, it was
\nnot my fault.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-war-1447899208",
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