The Road to Freedom is Full of Perils

Text and pictures by Eki Qushay Akhwan

Repainting buildings and cleaning up the neighborhoods are parts of our tradition in celebrating our Independence Day. They have the symbolic meanings of renewing our spirits of patriotism and act as some sort of sacred anniversary wish that the republic that our forefathers and mothers have founded with their sacrifices may see a brighter and better future.

The workers you see in the picture above are repainting the facade of Gedung Sate (West Java Governor's Office Mansion). They were relying only on bamboo scaffolds to do their job. It is a perilous job indeed considering the height of the building. While the road to our independence was really littered with perils, I don't think this should be re-enacted today, sixty three years after we declared independence. The road to our independence my be full of perils, but the future should see a more just and prosperous Indonesia.

Here is another picture of workers repainting Bandung City Hall. The ground job is of course not as risky as that in the top picture.

City of People: Children

Picture by Eki Qushay Akhwan

Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), a Lebanese American artist, poet, writer, philosopher, theologian, and one of my favorite poets ever, once wrote this about children:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your childrenas living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

To me, no other accounts of children have ever been more sublime than this. Those children in the picture are not just the citizens of Bandung; they are the citizens of the world, the future, and our hearts and souls.

City of People: The Marching Band Drummers

Texts and pictures by ©Eki Qushay Akhwan, all righst reserved.

Without discountng the roles of others, drummers are probably the most important part of a marching band. They provide beats and rhythm for the whole troops and regulate thier march. However, no groups of people can march on their own without cooperating with others, no matter how important they are. In this, a marching band can be a metaphor of life: parts can only be meaningful when they are put in a context, work hand in hand, and support one another. Only then can harmony be achieved and progress made. I hope these young drummers teach us something we so often forget.

Eki Qushay Akhwan