Husnu Kusuma’s Weblog

A: Pernah dengar buku Black Swan?

B: Apa?

A: Black Swan, yg ditulis Nassim Taleb?

B: Hah?

A: Itu yg sempet berbulan-bulan ada di jajaran buku bestseller di Amrik?

B: Masa sih? kok gw ga pernah denger ya?

A: Yah parah, masa ga tau sih?

B: Critain dong… apa isinya?

A: Hmm… apa yah? Bukunya berat sih, jadi gw jg ga gt ngerti…

B: Gubrak…..

A: Gini, black swan itu sebenarnya cerita tentang randomness. Bahwa kita terkadang salah menginterpretasikan luck dengan skill, bahwa kita seharusnya menggunakan statistik dgn lebih hati2, dan menjelaskan kenapa manusia cenderung bersikap gegabah…

B: Maksudnya?

A: Waduh, lu baca aja bukunya gih… nih.

B: Wah kok basa Inggris?

—- End of Conversation —-

Oh ya, diriku punya 2 buku Nassim: Fooled by Randomness dan The Black Swan. They’re great books (a lot of humor, history, mockery, psychology, etc). I have fun reading them.

more informative link: here or here.

Please read slowly:

What’s your ideal wife looks like? Is she normally thin or skinny? Is she tall? What dress she’s wearing? Is she wearing jilbab or let her hair loose? What about her skin? Her teeth and lips? Her smile?

How does she call you? Mas, kak, Abi, Aa’, or just your 1^st name? What about the way she look at you? Can you tell how much she loves you just by look in to her eyes?

What’s her first word when she calls you on the phone? What’s it sound like? Do you feel happiness or sadness in it? Can you feel the energy that tells you she’s strong and reliable? Can you sense that in some situation, she’s really vulnerable?

What about her family? Brother/Sister she has? Are they kind? What about her parents? What they do for a living? Is it possible for you to have their heritage? (hehehe, just kidding)

What about her education? What major did she take? Have you ever asked her why she took it? What magazine she reads? What movies she likes? What’s her fav TV shows? Serie A? :p Does she share what she thought with you? About religion, economics, physics, health, or anything else…

I’ve been told in one of my classes in Mechanical Engineering, that every object has natural frequency. This is also true for human. This can explain why most of artists marry artist, dokter dengan dokter, insinyur dgn insinyur, ekonom dgn ekonom, orang kaya dgn orang kaya, dll… karena mereka memiliki frekuensi natural yang sama. Tanpa saling mengatakan mereka mengerti maksud satu sama lain, ini seperti lagu Ronan Keating: You say it best, when you say nothing at all…

Kalo kata Anthony Robbins, someone that you can pitch and catch with, yang hubungannya emotionally, physically, intellectually, spiritually. Stuju pak Robbins !

(ditulis dengan membayangkan Susan Bachtiar)

Iseng nyari Uma Thurman di youtube (she’s drop dead gorgeous in my opinion). Salah satu yg ada adalah videonya di Paris untuk promosi jam tangan Tag Heuer. Opening speechnya kira2 kaya gini:

“It’s my privilege to be here… I’m very flattered to be asked to be an ambassador of Tag Heuer. I’m very touch when they offered me to become part of their team, because obviously I was seeing the brand is representing preciseness, athleticism, and courageous strong image… “

Gw rasa Uma lupa sesuatu: beauty. Karena unlikely bgt Tag Heuer milih doi kalo ga cakep…

Anyway I was struck by the word “privilege”. Menurut kamus, privilege berarti “an advantage, right, or benefit that is not available to everyone“. Kalo dalam speech-nya Uma di atas mungkin berarti “kehormatan yg istimewa”.

Dalam hidup ini, kadang gw rasa privilege yg diberikan Tuhan kepada makhluknya janggal dan sulit dimengerti. Gw sekarang muda, sehat, bahagia dgn kerjaan gw, dan punya penghasilan lumayan. Gw punya calon istri yang luar biasa cantik (my goddess, ya setaralah dengan Uma :p). I also have great friends and great family. Sebenarnya kebaikan apasih yg gw lakukan sehingga diberi Tuhan privilege yang begitu banyak?

Coba lihat orang2 lain: Ibu tua tukang sapu jalan Gatot Subroto, pemulung yg bantuin dinas kebersihan, penjual nasi mobile (pake gerobak dorong ), SPG asuransi/credit card/obat mata/multivitamin yg sering beroperasi di kantor, pencuci jendela gedung pencakar langit, pembantu kos kami (cowok lho), penjual di atas jembatan penyebrangan, dan masih banyak lagi kalo mau disebutin satu-persatu, orang2 yang mungkin keadaannya jauh beda dengan yang diinginkannya.

Perjalanan hidup memang ditentukan oleh banyak hal: Orang tua, gen, lingkungan, pendidikan, agama, adat, dll. Tapi apakah pada suatu masa dalam hidup orang2 tadi, regardless who they are, Tuhan ngasi mereka cukup privilege untuk menentukan nasib mereka di masa depan? I don’t think so.

Jika kita lihat hidup Rasulullah SAW sebelum diangkat mjd Rasul, beliau adalah orang yg sangat jujur, sabar, berbudi pekerti, ulet, hard worker, dan gelisah dengan keadaan kaumnya. Apakah karena itu Allah SWT mengangkat beliau jadi Rasul?

Bagaimana dengan Bill Gates? Kok Tuhan ngasi doi privilege jadi one of the richest men in the planet? Kok gw engga? hehehe… pasti banyak versi jawabannya: karena dia cerdiklah, momennya tepatlah, liciklah, dll. Tapi dengan itu aja gw rasa ga cukup, perlu ada yang turut “menggiring” keberhasilan seseorang, suatu privilege dari Allah SWT, dan ini sepertinya berkorelasi positif dengan usaha2 yg dilakukannya.

Hey tunggu dulu, gimana dengan Prince Charles, Ibunya, dan Mbah2nya, yg sejak njedul di muka bumi udah bakal jadi raja? Well honestly I don’t know the answer for that question.

Tapi yang jelas, mari kita tetap semangat & optimis menjalani hidup, insyaAllah privilege yg ada pada kita saat ini bisa kita manfaatkan maksimal. Sapa tau anak kita kelak yang bakal jadi Prince… amiin.