Acceptance and Dissatisfaction

One hundred thirty years in the future, nothing change much. Necklaces of steel spread far and wide; inside a ring of asphalt, a bustling city with trees as dressing and not a single concrete in sight. The outskirts are farmlands and forests side by side. Pockets of villages and towns contrasted with its surroundings. Who needs flying cars and motorcycles when you have reliable and interconnected public transport? Want to deliver a birthday gift for your lover? Just use a drone! They live in peace with birds and planes, too (as long as there’s no collision). Metalic humans join the society; they produce, help mortals, construct and maintain infrastructures, and with equal rights like their creator, some have tasted the throne of power. Every issue of humanity solved, hunger, poverty, racism, homelessness; say no more. A region has achieved it: the Special Administrative Region of Yogyakarta.

“It's time to cook. I’ll grab a branch moringa.” Let me introduce you to this guy, Iwan Himawan, with a typical Sundanese name where a syllable or two is repeated in one’s name.

“Wan! Grab me some lime leaves! I have start cooking!” a neighbor asked.

“Aye aye mbak Eka! You're making another batch of dried tempe,”. Iwan shifts his eyes to the lime and moringa tree as he whispers to them, “I’m sorry, I need your leaves.”

“That’s right; I want to travel to Eromoko. Hot rice and dried Tempe shall accompany my trip.”

“That’s quite far. What will you do there?” Iwan finished picking moringa branches and some lime leaves; as he walked toward mbak Eka, she paused for several seconds before replying.

“Pilgrimage, it’s been a thousand days since my dad passed away.”

“I see, I’m sorry if I reminded you about such things.”

“No need to sincerely apologize like that; death is inevitable, and I’ve moved on since the 40th day. The Javanese has a saying: don’t be easily surprised; don’t be easily amazed; and don’t be arrogant.” She received those lime leaves as she shared that wisdom and her cooking instinct started.

Before cooking, washing your hands is a must. Ms. Eka let the water perpetually flow from the start to the end. Iwan closes the tab. He massages a pinch of soap through the back of his palm, finger, and fingernail. After that, Ms. Eka left. But Iwan is still in front of the sink, looking at the mirror, especially his hairline.

“Receded by a micrometer per month. Well, with my long hair, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Iwan finally arrived at his apartment room, a 1 BR with plenty of windows to allow sunlight to shine the entire room from sunrise to sunset. He cut the moringa branch, washed the leaves, and turned it into soup. Add sautéed garlic into a pot of boiling water; some drops of oil and fried shallots will enhance the flavor. Add the moringa leaves with salt, sugar, white pepper, and galangal. A moringa soup is ready to serve and fill Iwan’s tummy for 6 hours. But his breakfast is incomplete without rice, white, red, or black; it doesn’t matter so long as it’s edible. The smell of white pepper, hot soup, and warm rice only increased his appetite. Unfortunately, he’s out of Tempe, so soup and rice are his only options. If you look at his refrigerator, there are chicken and duck eggs, leftover rice from last night, ice cubes, shrimp, apples, and a glass of guava juice. Despite the existence of shrimp, fried tempe is still a better breakfast companion for him.

A hologram TV turns on as Iwan eats in the living room. There is no interesting news for now, so he finishes his meal and prepares the room to meet a new patient who will arrive at his apartment in 15 minutes.

“Welcome, mbak Dwi. Please take a seat. Would you like a cup of tea?”

“Thank you. No sugar, please.”

“Here you go. I heard that you have open-angle glaucoma.”

“Yup, a year ago, during the first diagnosis, both eye pressures reached 29. Since then, I have taken carteolol eye drops. It only lasted for 6 months; my doctor gave me another drug prescription, which I use until now.”

“Oh, that’s why you use three types of eye drops every day.”

“Timolol maleate, brinzolamide, and latanoprost. It isn’t very pleasant to use all of them daily, even though my health insurance covers them. When I heard about healing through energy, I became interested in trying. But I’m still skeptical.”

“I must apologize in advance because I’m bad at explaining things, but I’ll do my best. There is energy that flows in the universe; it provides life to living beings. Humans can use this energy to empower themselves or transmit it to others, whether plants or others. In healing practices, the energy is transmitted to other people by harnessing the universe’s energy and projecting it to chakras necessary for healing diseases.”

“Do I have to join your organization to be able to do all that?”

“Nope, except you want to be a healer as well… or follow other courses related or unrelated to healing practices.”

“How can I harness it now?”

“Press the center of your palm, both hands. To increase concentration, put your tongue on your palate. You can hug that big asem tree outside for a minute or two.”

“From your experience, does it work?”

“Putting my tongue at my palate helps me focus on work and gives me enough energy to treat up to 15 patients daily. However, I had to hold or play with my balls before I learned this technique. It helps me focus during exams. When I worked on my exam with no balls played, I flunked my exam hard.”

“Ouch, I wonder how that was possible?”

“Take a look at these eleven major chakras behind me; there’s something called Basic Chakra. It controls and energizes the muscular and skeletal system. The center of instinct, that’s why playing with my balls helped me during exams.”

“Wait, that chakra is in your balls?!”

“Not exactly, it’s closer to the coccyx than my balls. Why don’t you try hugging that asem tree for now?”

“Okay then, be right back!”

“Convincing her is easier than I thought.”

After ten minutes of hugging a tree, she is finally ready for healing. She is a successful candidate for his patients list today and the day after tomorrow. The influx of energy into her body was exchanged for the influx of money into Iwan’s bank account today. At 8 PM, the TV is on with unusual news. 2 people were arrested this afternoon for capturing an eagle at the Kaliurang sacred groove.

“Ah, they’re foreigners. No wonder they have the guts to do that. Plus, what kind of people want an eagle as a pet?”

Nrimo ing pandum is the act of accepting what is given, whether it’s good or bad. For the inhabitants of Yogyakarta, it’s normal to think that way despite the Sultan being a leader of culture and tradition instead of politics. Such a self-accepting philosophy doesn’t adhere to everyone’s mind, yielding different life circumstances.

***

“Unbelievable. The bird was freed, and those two guys only got away with deportation? I guess free housing, excellent public transport, free healthcare, free education, and all these policies from that reform still have weak points. What’s the point of those lands given away by my ancestors? I can’t accept this!”

“Indra, you have an incoming call from Agatha.”

“Not now, Ayu; leave a message to Agatha that I’ll call her in 15 minutes.”

“Very well… Your message has been sent. Would you like a cup of hot coffee to elate your mood?”

“Sure.”

“Very well, please wait.”

Indra’s heavy breathing fills the living room with tension. As his heartbeat gets louder, his blood races quickly, passing every chicane, and the sacrifices of his ancestors to support the reform flood his memory. The idea to change this peaceful situation in his hometown slowly grew in his brain. It's a good thing the coffee arrives just in time before his emotions explode like a hydrogen bomb. However, his stress level rises again because Agatha challenges him in chess, and they currently have five consecutive draws. As a result, his ancestor's sacrifices were etched into his memory all night, and his ideas of change were fertilized.

Notes:

Mbak (sister) is an honourific for unwedded female and mas (brother) is an honourific for unwedded male. Mostly used to address someone slightly older than the speaker. Both terms come from Javanese language.

Asem tree: Tamarindus Indica

Tempe: Fermented soybean cake.