Public Love Story

A few mornings ago the radio was in full blast as I was driving into work. Breakfast radio show was on, and of course we heard more of the DJs talking than actual music. That morning topic was Nostalgia Street. It's an actual street name and listeners were asked to share their experiences (if any) about that street. It wasn't too interesting until this girl called up. Her boyfriend lived on Nostalgia Street in some part of Jakarta. Last night they had a fight and because she was upset, she brought up his past sins and infuriated the boyfriend. They broke up that moment. Half sobbing she said that she drove to her boyfriend's house the night before, waited there for a few hours trying to gather the nerve to come in and apologize. In the end, she didn't. She didn't dare to...

She also said that it was her boyfriend's habit to listen to the breakfast radio show and she was hoping that he could hear her plea. The DJs tried to call the boyfriend to get his side of the story but his phone was switched off. Nothing happened until the end of the show. Nobody knew what happened to the couple.

Today the borderline between the private and the public is becoming unclear. Is it because we celebrate our celebrities that we aspire to live our life like them? The celebrities need the public eye to contribute to their fame; and the commoners crave for the eyes to the rest of the world. Whatever happened to shyness? Low profile? In keeping the personal private?

On Signs

"All you have to do is pay attention; lessons always arrive when you are ready, and if you can read the signs, you will learn everything you need to know in order to take the next step."

(Paulo Coelho, The Zahir)

PAUSE

When I thought about the title for this post, initially I was going to put BREAK. In the midst of our even busier lifestyle and life's crazy demands we often fell prey to running the motion, losing sight of what's really important. Somebody reminded me that many religions include a time to pause.

In the coming of Easter, Christians all around the world participate in lent. A time to remember and to evaluate desires, longings and things that should be important. A friend of mine chose to give up blogging; because it is the one thing she is addicted to. Another chose to give up smoking. When these persons decided on giving up something, they had taken the time to analyse their own falls in life.

For one month before celebrating their triumph in Idul Fitri, Muslims fast and spend those 30 days to devote their life to God.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that in order to pause one should follow a religion. I'm merely saying that pausing once in a while is good and important so we don't lose our way. When we pause we look at where we are: spiritually, physically, financially; we also look at how we relate to people who we think as important. And when we pause, keep track of the path we've walked -- the road travelled and the road ahead.

When was the last time you pause?

PASSION

Last weekend Jakarta had a big festival of music -- JAVA JAZZ FESTIVAL 2006. The line up included Bob James, Incognito, The Brand New Heavies, Lee Ritenour, Omar, Carleen Anderson, Chiara Chivello, Maliq n D'Essentials, Luluk Purwanto, Kool & The Gang, Hiromi, and many more. It was more than 1000 performers both local and international. I was privileged enough to attend 2 days out of the 3 days.

In the midst of gazillion people and cool music, one thing stood out the most. Passion. The tired faces of crew and organisers wondering around the complex -- god knows the many sleepless nights they've had; the brilliant performances and the dedicated audience. From that passion you get to learn about love. Love of life, love of the music, loving what they're doing. Great passion brings you far... And when you hear it in the air, feel it in every bone of your body, and listen to it constantly, life is so great, it's sooo worth living!