Heart Breaking News

Tired but excited, stranded in Tokyo on my way home to Bukittinggi, this morning I was waken up by a breaking news. Obama wipe his tears while addressing the massacre done by Ryan Lanza in an elementary school, Newtown Connecticut. Directly, this thing shocked me, it put a bang in my head. I can feel what those more than twenty children's parents feel. I really do, I cannot imagine what a heart break it is. I do not believe I will be able to receive such condition in a sane manner.

Though I do not know you, and you do not know me, please accept my deepest condolence. 

lukamu, lukaku. luka kita luka kaku*.

This thing is a tragedy, although happen locally, but this is a humanitarian tragedy. Children, what ever their race, nationality, and where ever they are in this world, are holy. They are holier than any saint. If threatening a saint is a sin, killing them is a condemned sin. May the soul who ever do this rot in hell for ever. It is emotional indeed, and I say it should be emotional. There is no other reason than not to be emotional. These angel, are children, just as my children are to me, to the parents. I will do anything in the world to make this not happen, and I believe they too, because we are parents.

Parents is a role that is emotional. It is not like any other role in human relation, no question about it, at least to me. From this perspective, this tragedy also bring a question, about children's right, what are they and have we provide them. Have we ensure that every kid's right have been guaranteed? in my opinion it should be at least consist of love from their surroundings, safety and nutrition, and education. These are the thing that every kid need to grow to be a well adult. I believe that this is not too much, as long as the adult can use their brain.

This tragedy reminds me that there are so many kids in the world that do not have their right. The kids in the time of war, in famine, in conflict areas, in poverty, any where in the world. This situation is also a tragedy to the human kind as a whole. It is like a bad joke that while as human race we have live this earth, collecting knowledge, building civilization incredibly well with productivity tens, hundreds even thousand folds of the early human, but numbers of kids, millions may be, unprotected from threats, less to get their full right. 

After all, I have to say that I write this not knowing what exactly I wanted to say. This tragedy is a tragedy, it reminds me that there are still so many tragedies happening days to days. This tragedy is disgusting to me, how ever this is caused by a mad man, a senile. But war is also the same tragedy, as disgusting, as it allow things like this happen more frequent, event un noticed and an justifiably investigated. The worst is that those who allowed it are educated political actors.  If we are shocked by this situation, we should do everything we can to ensure that this tragedy never happen again. We must also prevent every mad man to have a power to do this things, whether it is a gun, or a right to claim war.

*a free quote from Luka, a poem by Sutardji Calzoum Bachri