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| State of Mind ID by DpressedSoul http://dpressedsoul.deviantart.com/ |
In the course of running the shelter for migrant
workers, a lot of uncertainties occur. The initial assumption that one month is
enough to prepare them to return to their families turns out to be the minimum
amount of time. The longest period so far is three months. Clearly, persons
with troubles are in need of the most help. Yet this is not how society seems
to react. In this country of the red and
white, the scale of social ills seem to be larger than life, threatening to
overwhelm any heart or fund or resolve. Hence, no one attempts to solve these
problems. We normally assume that this is different from the case of someone
that comes along, and wields the power that is given unto to them to carry out
their duty. Like how the new governor and vice-governor of Jakarta seem to be
making visible and tangible changes to Jakarta, until our everyday lives are
touched.
Can this explanation be true? Do we always give up
on problems that we are not given clear authority, given clear guidelines as to
what we can or cannot do?
The question strikes at our hearts, for it questions
whether we care or not, whether we stand for values and morals over and above
our own convenience, leisure, pleasure, or even the box which society and
ourselves collude to put in place. If a person lives, breathes, and remains a
member of society, to care for what is happening around them is a consequence
of being alive in this manner. However, when someone decides to use sunglasses,
darken the glass of their windscreens and windows, and live in gated enclaves,
their actions do not seem say so. They live for themselves, and not for
society. But is that really possible? Are they really able to live in their own
bubbles, excluded from the problems of the world around them?
The answer, from the less fortunate side of life, is
that they tend not to. So, the others who are less fortunate soldier on, one
day, one meal, one moment at a time. There's no space or time for remorse, for
regrets, for all that could have been - because it is not going to be, as it
has already passed. When one is down and out, laden with burdens that bow the
head down, then all one can do is to count the money you can find on the
ground. If you are laid low, flat on your back with the troubles and illnesses
that afflict the less fortunate, you could perhaps count the stars in the sky.
Everything else is a miracle.
But, if we don't see miracles at work in the streets
and in the slums, among the poor and oppressed, don't be surprised if at one
time life changes dramatically, and no one cares either. What's at stake is not
the money, the handouts, or the help given to the less fortunate, but the
creation of, and engagement in, a civil society comprised of the rich and the
poor that allows everyone to live justly, in peace, according to their own
motivations. If society means anything, it should be more than just a group of
classes, a numeral label that has no value to everyone in it.
One of the implications is that if people want to
work abroad in order to change their fortunes, and such means do exist legally,
then by all means, let them work hard to achieve their dreams - and let their
efforts be supported by proper legal and social supports and mechanisms. This
applies as much as to the aspiring engineer as well as to the hard-working
domestic helper.
In reality, it is the monetarily poor who are
further marginalized and neglected, which shows that there really isn't a just
and peaceful civil society at work here, from the government to the ordinary
people on the streets. When there isn't a civil society at all, no one is safe
from becoming prey for someone else stronger, richer, or hell-bent on
victimising others. At that time there would no longer be any miracles, only
just curses, no longer any happiness or joy, but neuroses and misery. There is
no one for anyone else, and all one has is loneliness and suffering.
This is not how our society looks like at the
moment. But for those who have fallen between the cracks, who have been less
fortunate in how life has dealt with them, this is their reality. The hope and
miracle which we are all waiting for in society is perhaps one that is waiting
to happen within us, and not on the outside. Perhaps it is all due to our
misunderstanding what we are, who we are, and who we are called to be.
Unfortunately, just like how life looks unjust for the marginalized, if we do
not care enough, so it would be as well for us.
