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Your letters: Terrorism, school and morals
No fear: Residents come closer to the police post at the Sarinah shopping mall, badly damaged in a bomb attack on Jan
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No fear: Residents come closer to the police post at the Sarinah shopping mall, badly damaged in a bomb attack on Jan. 14. A number of terrorists attacked the police post, killing at least four people.(JP/Jerry Adiguna) (JP/Jerry Adiguna)
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span class="caption">No fear: Residents come closer to the police post at the Sarinah shopping mall, badly damaged in a bomb attack on Jan. 14. A number of terrorists attacked the police post, killing at least four people.(JP/Jerry Adiguna)
On Jan. 14, the all-girls high school Santa Ursula located on Jl. Pos in Central Jakarta gave all its grade 10 and 11 students the day off because the grade 12 students would have to be defending their scientific papers as their final assignment.
My little sister is an 11th grader studying in Santa Ursula. She lives nearby in a dormitory. Although it was a day off for her, her friends and she had to attend choir practice in school for an upcoming school event.
On that very Thursday morning, her other two friends and she decided to go to Sarinah to hang out instead of having the choir practice in the morning and to attend the practice later in the afternoon. However, the plan was canceled because it was difficult for them to be excused by the teacher.
Sarinah is the nearest cool hang-out place for some schools located in Central Jakarta. My little brother and I also went to a school in Jakarta, the all-boys high school, Canisius College, a 20-minute walk from Santa Ursula, which means it is also close to Sarinah. I still remember the days when my friends (from Canisius College and Santa Ursula) and I often visited Sarinah to watch movies, or have some meals and beverages in some stores there. No wonder that now it's my little sister's turn to enjoy what I used to feel as a high school student around there.
In another universe, my little sister along with her friends might have decided to play truant from their duty in school and I couldn't imagine what would have then happened to my family. Neither of us could be sure of what things would have happened to my little sister if she had been in Sarinah then. Maybe she would have been fine, or maybe she would have been crying because of being terrified and psychologically shaken, or maybe she would be no longer here right now.
After my sister and I talked about the tragedy (although it turns out to be a mockery for the terrorists, still it's a tragedy that took lives), I told her that the lesson of all this is to always choose school and education instead of hanging out, or especially instead of playing truant from her duties.
This event has taught both of us that by holding firmly to our integrity and sense of responsibility, we will be salvaged. If she had decided to ignore her duties, she might have been no more. We both ended up agreeing that it's morals that will save us people.
After all, isn't terrorism all about immoral action? Isn't it all about ignoring humanity and our responsibility to keep harmony and peace in society? Isn't it all about selfishness that consumes one's conscience?
I don't know if the bombing attack was about religion at all; none of us can see the religious part of the action anyway. Anyhow, one thing is sure from this event: Ego and ignorance can become the cause of destruction for our civilization.
Liswindio Apendicaesar
Student of Sebelas Maret University,
Surakarta
