You can't be good at everything

You can't be good at everything

JAKARTA (JP): When the Thai soccer team snatched the men's
soccer gold medal from Indonesia in the recent SEA Games, some
Indonesian soccer fans raged through the main stadium, destroying
whatever they could to vent their anger, cursing at anybody who
could be blamed for the loss. The Senayan Sports Complex was
plunged into a chaos. Many vehicles, displays, and other objects
were destroyed, causing yet further loss.

The wave of anger also raged in my office the next day. People
kept complaining the whole day.

Why are they so angry?

"Because the Indonesian soccer team has robbed everyone of the
excitement of being the Games overall winner," said a friend in
my office the next day.

"But we are the champion anyway, what with winning the most
medals," I said. "We have outnumbered the other teams in terms of
medals and met all the organizations' targets."

"But it's not complete without the gold medal in soccer,"
complained someone else. "It is the most prestigious competition.
The loss is a painful blow."

"Why are you so fussy? We can't win a soccer match. So what,
Thailand is better than us. We can't be good at everything," I
said.

My comment was just like a red rag to a bull. Now I was the
one they cursed. I was suddenly accused of not being a
nationalist.

To be good at everything is the target of most people. Take a
look at our TV artists. How many of them stick to their original
profession? You don't need all the fingers on one hand to count
them. The rest of them hold many titles at the same time;
actress/actor, singer, director, fashion model, song writer, and
highly paid Master of Ceremonies.

A successful commercial model, for instance, can easily get a
role in a soap opera, known as sinetron in Indonesia. No acting
ability is required to do the job as long as you have the name
and the looks.

Then comes singing. Nowadays, to be a singer you don't need a
divine voice. All it takes is a name plus looks. The rest is
taken care of by sophisticated voice manipulation by electronic
instruments. For those who make it in either singing or acting,
all doors suddenly become open.

In business, the grab-everything-in-sight attitude is
increasingly becoming the trend. Success denotes the line of
business you are in. Whenever possible, a group of companies
controls all the products both upstream and downstream.

Tanto used to be a successful poultry breeder, which is
relevant to his agricultural background. But in the last decade,
he has diversified his business. Now he has control of 32
companies covering most economic sectors. This sure makes him
look like a superman.

And that's not all. Being just a businessman is no good. He
needs to show that he is also good at something else. He spices
up his business success with an affinity for the arts. Claiming
that he comes from an art-loving family, he began to paint. And
to confirm the "credentials," he acquired an art gallery where he
held his first exhibition. Rumor has it that the paintings were
done by one of his employees, an unknown painter who doesn't mind
giving up his works for a hefty check.

Being a singer? Why not! Tanto invested in a recording company
and produces his own songs, his own composition. Now he is not
only a businessman, but also a painter, a singer, a composer, an
art lover, poetry reader, you name it. It is only the economic
recession, due to the plummeting value of rupiah, that can stop
his rate of expansion. Sky-rocketing bank interest rates has made
him give up most of his business ventures and left him with
heavily in debt. And he now feels sorry to have left his not-so-
prestigious core business, poultry breeding at which he was very
proficient.

I was once tempted to become somebody who could do everything.
Taking the successful publication of my first book as the point
of departure, I tried different writing styles, including script
writing, which I expected to pave my road to movie directing. But
success was far beyond my reach.

I did win a magazine competition for writing a humorous serial
and I had a contract to fill the humor section in the magazine
for a year. But that was all. I soon realized that humor was not
my cup of tea. And finishing the contract was a nightmare that
delayed the completion of my third book.

"Get back to your original khitah (the ideal)" is the wisest
suggestion I have ever been given, and it was from the good old
friend who happens to be my wife.

-- Carl Chairul