Aku memang mencintai mengajar. Sejak diserahi tugas untuk membimbing anak-anak debat SMA 2 Yogya, rasanya mengajar membuatku mendapatkan adik-adik baru. Aku merasa sangat dekat dengan mereka, dan demikian pula mereka.. Ada hubungan khusus yang terbina antara kami semua, baik dengan veteran, maupun dengan semua anggota baru yang terus ada setiap tahunnya. Tadinya, kukira itu hanya karena aku tidak termasuk di dalam konteks formal kepengajaran....

Akan tetapi, hubungan itu ternyata sudah menjadi sebegitu eratnya, sehingga aku merasa sangat tidak tega untuk melepaskan mereka semua. Terbersit perasaan tidak rela untuk pergi dari mereka, dan melihat mereka diasuh oleh orang lain.

Hal yang sama ternyata terjadi juga padaku dalam PPL semester ini. Walaupun aku hanya masuk ke dalam kelas mereka selama seminggu, rasanya sudah ada perasaan keterikatan yang terbentuk antara diriku dan mereka. Gosh, I really love teaching!!!!

Hhhhh, kau terlalu mirip dengan ibuku...... Menyebalkan dan terlalu banyak mengatur. Maksudmu ingin menyayangiku, tapi kau telah menginjak kuncup tunasku yang sedang berkembang!

Superheroes : From the Earthbound Angels to Heroes

When we heard the word “Superhero”, I’m quite sure that the first picture coming into our mind is almost mostly the legendary Superman. It is an inevitable fact that this character has placed himself as the earthbound angel, ever since his creation by Jerry Shuster in 1930’s. Begin in Action Comics #1, Superman has grown and develop many kinds of superpower, and once possessed all the other superheroes’ power, like running as fast as the Flash, time travelling like Rip Hunter, or even super strength and invulnerability. Thus, the word man in his name became redundant, for he appeared in front of us as “the God” before a man.
This almighty superhero was later retroactively revised by eliminating some of his ridiculous powers. But, once the image has been formed in people’s mind, it is hard to change the stereotype and the stigmatization. For most people, this hero is still the earthbound angel (even later, the infamous Alex Ross placed Superman as the symbolism of Jesus Christ in his most famous story, Kingdom Come). No flaw has been depicted in Superman’s myth for long (other than Kryptonite), and hence really smoothen his way to achieve God-like position, far from any other man. At this point, even Clark Kent is often depicted as Superman’s alter ego, which is so reversed.
Good guy, boy-scout like, man without flaw…………………… And thus come his dawn, when more and more human-like heroes emerged into the comics. The heroes with their own flaws and humane touch, humane problem, psychological stuff, and more. In short, heroes closer to human.
This emerged-later heroes are depicted with the flaws beyond their power. Okay, the classic one is Cyclops, with his “abnormal” eyes, or Wolverine with his enigmatic persona.
This way, the characterization of the heroes seemed real, or at least more real than those earthbound angels. We can see their own self, the human before the heroes, with all their problems. We can see the lover before Cyclops, or the loner before Rogue. Not to mention the regret and dark past of Gambit, the geek’s life of Peter Parker before Spiderman. This is much more real than the flawless Superman (with the power to create his miniature, duh!) and perfect woman in Wonder Woman’s character. (Yet, DC is not really behind this, for they also have Batman, whose development relies on his trauma and dark past, but even he has been depicted as cool and expressionless character, and thus also separating himself from the real world).
FYI, I’m talking about the DC’s Trinity traced back as their appearance in Golden Age and Silver Age Comics (with their silly sidekick, duh! Ace the bat Hound?? Streak the super cat????? What the heck??????)
Now, stepping into the more realistic character development, something is still hindering them from coming out into reality. Yup, you’re right. It’s the cape and spandex! Okay, it looks great on them in comics (not in reality…… Imagine you see Wolverine wearing his yellow costume, taking a walk in street…. You’ll certainly say that he’s crazy!). Hey, I don’t want to argue upon the costume, for I also like seeing Black Canary’s fishnet, but the point is, Spandex makes them unreal (for some, though!). Umm, for the comparison, try to watch Stan Lee’s Who Wants to be Superhero? It’s so unreal and unearthly seeing the characters among “us”, eh?
Therefore, when I first saw Heroes, I was very astonished. WTF!!!!! It’s all about superheroes….. Human life before heroes’ lives. No secret identity, no spandex, no silly power, no flawless character, with daily problems, family affair, and human drama.
Peter’s inability to control his power, Claire’s teenage problem, Nathan’s political affair, and even Hiro’s innocence certainly allow us to tap the bridge between reality and fantasy. This is one step closer to bring superheroes into reality. Congratulations, Jeph Loeb and Tim Kring!!!!!!

Secangkir Kopi

Secangkir kopi hangat itu hadir di sampingku, menemani diriku menghabiskan sore hari nan jingga ini. Asapnya mengepul, sementara cairan hitam pekat itu bergulung-gulung dan berputar di dalam cangkir keramik putih itu. Aromanya melayang, merangsang dan membelai hidungku,seolah mengundangku untuk segera menghirupnya.
Jemariku bergerak maju meraih telinga cangkir itu, mengangkat dan mendekatkannya ke depan bibirku. Perlahan-lahan, air hitam nan hangat itu mengalir membasahi bibirku, membelai sang lidah, dan bergerak menuruni tenggorokanku. Ia meninggalkan rasa pahit yang khas, karena kopiku memang hanya menggunakan sedikit sekali gula. Hanya sebagai pengurang rasa pahit yang terlalu pekat. Sementara sang bayu senja menghampiri menyenandungkan siulan jingga ke telingaku, cawan kopiku kembali menyangga cangkir itu.
Ah, kopi! Minuman yang pernah sangat kubenci. Pahit, panas, dan tidak memberikan energi tambahan bagiku. Pernah suatu kali aku membuat kopi karena aku harus bekerja lembur, tapi tetap saja aku sudah tergeletak tak berdaya di atas meja kerjaku.
Tidak habis pikir aku, kenapa ada orang yang menyukai kopi! Apa yang mereka dapatkan dari rasa pahit nan mendalam itu?
Pahit tidak enak! Pahit itu menyebalkan! Begitu pikirku pada waktu itu.
Tapi aku menyadarinya sekarang, bahwa ada sebuah misteri yang tersimpan di balik rasa pahit sang kopi. Secangkir kopi tidak lain dan tidak bukan adalah lukisan kehidupan sang manusia.
Aku mulai menikmati pahitnya kopi, semenjak aku merasa muak dengan gula dan minuman manis lainnya. Mereka membuatku mual. Kadar kemanisan mereka sangat tinggi. Terlalu manis itu tidak enak.
Pahitnya kehidupan manusia terangkum dengan sangat jelas di dlam secangkir kopi. Karena itulah aku mulai menyukai kopi, sejak aku merasa mual dengan semua hal indah di dunia ini.
Aku hanya mampu melihat hal-hal manis di dalam dunia, tanpa sedikitpun mampu mengecapnya. Dan, dunia pun menyimpan hal-hal pahit tak terduga. Tanpa adanya hal-hal tersebut, manis tidak akan pernah terasa manis.