Wise Words

"LIFE is a verb"
... Buckminster Fuller

"Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still"
...T.S. Eliot, from Ash Wednesday

"Life is very short
And there's no time for fighting and fussing my friends."
...The Beatles

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love
.... Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Never let the weeds get higher
Than the garden"
...Tom Waits

"My grandfather always said that living is like licking honey off a thorn." ...Louis Adamic




"Have as your goal to do your best and to make a difference.
We are in the world to make a difference,
and everything we do changes the world."

"The greatest thing in the world is not so much where we are,
but in what direction we are moving."

"Once the mind has been stretched by a new idea,
it will never again return to its original size."
...Oliver Wendell Holmes

Born March 6, 1841 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr (d. 1935), Supreme Court justice

"I do not know what your destiny will be, but one thing I
know: the only ones among you who will be truly happy
are those who will have sought and found how to serve."
....Albert Schweitzer

"The lot of the many is to have as a profession,
for the earning of their living and the satisfaction
of society's claim on them, a more or less soulless labor
in which they can give out little or nothing of their human qualities,
because in that labor they have to be
little better than human machines.
;Yet no one finds himself in the position of having no possible
opportunity of giving himself to others as a human being.
...No fate can prevent a man from giving to others this
direct human service side by side with his lifework.
If so much of such service remains unrealized,
it is because the opportunities are missed."
...Albert Schweitzer
Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography

"the world is not respectable: it is mortal,
tormented, confused, deluded forever;
but it is shot through with beauty,
with love, with glints of courage and laughter;
and in these, the Spirit blooms."

The young man who has not wept is a savage,
and the old man who will not laugh is a fool.
George Santayana

The more I attempted to "be me" the more "me's" I found there were.
I now see that "being me" means acknowledging all that I feel at the moment,
and then taking responsibility for my actions
by consciously choosing which level of my feelings
I am going to respond to.
... Hugh Prather
Notes to Myself : My Struggle to Become a Person

"The trick is what one emphasizes.
We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong.
The amount of work is the same."

"Was it something I will see in the future" I asked?
There's no future!" he exclaimed cuttingly.
The future is only a way of talking.
For a sorcerer there is only the here and now."
...Carlos Castaneda from "Tales Of Power"
Dec.24,1925 -April 27,1998
Carlos Castaneda Books

"The worst prison would be a closed heart".
...Pope John Paul II

In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back.
...Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown DVD

I think each one of us has a non-shirkable obligation
to figure out the world on our own as best we can.
The way we behave as a result of that investigation
is our real and practiced Religion.

"The key to the future is service.
Part of what made Kennedy great was the idea of the Peace Corps.
Part of Clinton's votes came from people who liked
the idea of repaying student loans with service.
As the world becomes more crowded,
each way of making money becomes precious and money is charged
for things that used to be given for free or for love.
Service becomes a revolutionary act."
...Stephen Gaskin

"There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery.
You can't do any business from there."
...Colonel Sanders

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into
fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost
its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

....Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Prize winner,Literature,1913
Gitanjali : A Collection of Indian Poems by the Nobel Laureate

"God admires us not for what we do but for how much love we put into what we do.
Together let us build a chain of love around the world."

"In the developed countries there is a poverty of intimacy,
a poverty of spirit, of loneliness, of lack of love.
There is no greater sickness in the world today than that one."

"We cannot all do great things.But we can do small things with great love."
....Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa Books, VHS, DVD

"My message is the practice of compassion, love, and kindness.
Compassion can be put into practice if one recognizes the fact
that every human being is a member of humanity and
the human family regardless of differences in religion, culture, color, and creed.
Deep down there is no difference."

"We should try never to let our happy frame of mind be disturbed.
Whether we are suffering at present or have suffered in the past,
there is no reason to be unhappy. If we can remedy it, why be unhappy?
And if we cannot, what use is there in being depressed about it?
That just adds more unhappiness and does no good at all."

"By developing a sense of respect for others and a concern for their welfare,
we reduce our own selfishness, which is the source of all problems,
and enhance our sense of kindness which is a natural source of goodness."

"This is my simple religion.
There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy.
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;
the philosophy is kindness."

...His holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso
The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living

The idea is that you have to WIN and be nonviolent
You've got to be nonviolent - and you've got to win with nonviolence. "
... Cesar Chavez

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where -- " said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
" -- so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
...Alice in Wonderland

"Intellectuals try not to drown, while the whole purpose of love is drowning."
...Rumi
The Illuminated Rumi

As selfishness and complaint pervert cloud the mind,
so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.
...Helen Keller, My Religion, 1927.

"Love is the answer, and you know that for sure."
...John Lennon

"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together!"

...Beatles, "I Am The Walrus"

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve.
You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love".
...Martin L. King, Jr.

The more I study the world,The more I am convinced of the
inability of Brute force to create anything durable.
...Napoleon Bonaparte

"Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices"
... William James

"Breathe when you breathe,
Walk where you walk.
talk when you talk,
cry when you cry,
die when you die,
let go when you let go..."
...Allen Ginsberg

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow-men;
along those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes,
and they come back to us as effects."
... Herman Melville
Moby Dick (Oxford World's Classics Hardcovers)

"The recognition of the life of every man as sacred is the first
and only basis of all ethics.
War is so unjust and ugly that all who wage it must try
to stifle the voice of conscience within themselves."
...Leo Tolstoy,
The Kingdom of God Is Within You

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us the 'universe',
a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself,
his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest
-a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to
our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening
our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature in its beauty."

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."

"With all my heart I believe the present system of sovereign nations
can lead only to war, barbarism, inhumanity, and
only through world law can we assure progress toward civilization."

" The ideals that lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage
to face life cheerfully have been Kindness, Beauty and Truth."
...Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

"Life is not the result of the evolution of matter.
Life is of another kind.
Matter alone can't produce life. I look to nature
and to the Spirit who is living in everything."
...Marc Deneyer Photographic Artist

"What is beautiful is a joy for all seasons and a possession for all eternity."
...Oscar Wilde
The Oscar Wilde Collection
(The Importance of Being Earnest / The Picture of Dorian Gray
/ An Ideal Husband / Lady Windermere's Fan)

"To be completely honest with oneself is the very best effort a human being can make."
...Sigmund Freud

"I have learnt through bitter experience
the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger,
and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy,
even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a
power which can move the world."

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

"An Eye for an Eye makes the whole world blind."

...Mahatma Gandhi
Quotes by Gandhi

In this internal storm and outward tide
We hear a promise, hard to understand:
From the compulsion that all creatures binds,
Who overcomes himself, his freedom finds.
____________

Nothing is more revolting than the majority;
for it consists of few vigorous predecessors,
of knaves who accommodate themselves,
of weak people who assimilate themselves,
and the mass that toddles after them
without knowing the least what it wants.
...Goethe


Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity
of self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that self-observation
itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes. He begins to understand that
self-observation is an instrument of self-change, a means of awakening.
... George Gurdjieff "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it's best,
night and day, to make you everybody else
means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight;
and never stop fighting."
...ee cummings
"You are what your deep driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is,so is your deed. As your deed is,
so is your destiny. "
...Brihadaranyaka Upanishad


"Eliminate the impossible and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
...Sherlock Holmes

";The Internet is a vibration of where we're going now. Welcome to the next millennium
- you've got to get on it or you're going to be like the dinosaur."
...Carlos Santana

"Only the vigilant can maintain their liberties, and only those who are
constantly and intelligently on the spot can hope to govern
themselves effectively by democratic procedures. A society,
most of whose members spend a great part of their time, not on the spot,
not here and now and in the calculable future, but somewhere else,
in the irrelevant other worlds of sport and soap opera,
of mythology and metaphysical fantasy, will find it hard to resist
the encroachments of those who would manipulate and control it."
...Aldous Huxley,
Brave New World

"The courage of a life is often a less dramatic spectacle
than the courage of a final moment;
but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.
A man does what he must--in spite of personal consequences,
in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures
--and that is the basis of all human morality."

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
...John F. Kennedy

"Through his power to survey his life, man can transcend the immediate events
which determine him. Whether he has tuberculosis or is a slave like the
Roman philosopher Epictetus or a prisoner condemned to death,
he can still in his freedom choose how he will relate to these facts.
And how he relates to a merciless realistic fact like death
can be more important for him than the fact of death itself. "
...Rollo May

"You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good from the wicked;
For they stand together before the face of the sun even as
the black thread and the white are woven together.
And when the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look into the whole cloth,
and he shall examine the loom also."
...Kahlil Gibran,The Prophet

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Star Of Live

“Kiri kanan ku lihat saja banyak pohon cemara….”
“Kok cemara ?”
“Stroberynya nggak ada”. Sahut yang lain. Semua tertawa dalam pelukan indahnya panorama sekitar.

Truk yang mengangkut sejumlah pemuda-pemudi ini terus melaju menantang tingginya pegunungan ini. Udara disini begitu sejuk, jauh berbeda dengan tempat tinggal mereka. Pegunungan menjulang tinggi, memagari hamparan luas sawah yang hijau layaknya permadani. Apalagi air yang mengalir sebening embun pagi. Ini memang bukan pertama kalinya rombongan itu kesini, tapi keterpukauan mereka tetap tak berkurang sedikitpun. Rombongan peserta LDKS MAN Sidoarjo akhirnya telah tiba di tempat tujuan.

“Ahhh… akhirnya kita sampe’ juga ya, cepeeeeekk BGT rasanya..”
“Ini tuh belum nyampe’, kita masih harus nanjak lagi ke atas sana” ucap Denis sambil menunjuk villa di pucuk gunung itu.
“Masih butuh perjuangan lagi donk mbak ?” sahut salah satu adik kelasnya.
“Ya iya lah masak ya thoiba ?”

Langkah demi langkah mereka lewati untuk mendaki puncak tersebut. Setelah pembagian kelompok, mereka berkumpul sesuai kelompoknya. Dan berisirahat sejenak sambil menunggu malam tiba.

“Mungkin malam ini ada yang pengen tampil buat mengekspresikan sesuatu ?” tanya Pak Chilmy.
“Luluh.. Luluh.. Luluh.. “ sahut mereka serempak
“Iya, ayo Luh..! Mau pake gitar ?”
“Iya Pak..”

Tak lama kemudian, petikan-petikan gitar telah dimainkannya. Alunan lagu indah pun mulai terdengar. Tatapan matanya tertuju pada Denis hingga getaran-getaran jiwa memenuhi setiap sudut ruangan.

Sungguh tak bisa ku mengganti dirimu dengan dirinya
Sungguh tak sanggup aku berpaling dari dirimu

Namun, ada keanehan dari semua itu.
“Dia kenapa ya ? kayaknya ada yang nggak beres nich. Mukanya kok keliatan pucat ? apa dia sakit ?” pikir Denis.
Plok..Plok..Plok.. Tepukan meriah mengakhiri semua pikirannya. Luluh berjalan ke arah belakang hingga akhirnya menghilang entah kemana.

“Nis, Luluh sakit ! Asmanya kambuh”. Ujar Rizka.
“Apa ? Ya Allah, Truz sekarang dia gimana ? Dimana ?”
“Dia udah ditangani sama guru-guru kok. kamu tenang aja ya, ntar aku kasih tahu kamu kabar selanjutnya. Okey ?”

Denis hanya bisa terdiam membisu. Hanya tetes demi tetes air mata yang dapat tercurah tuk kekasih pujaan hatinya.

“Ya Allah Ya Tuhanku.. Hamba mohon lindungilah Luluh. Beri dia kekuatan.. Amien”. Lantunan doa pun mengiringi tiap jeda waktunya.

Tak terasa malam semakin larut. Udara dingin kian menjalar di sekujur tubuhku.
“Sekarang udah waktunya kalian buat tidur. Buat yang cewek, kalian tidur di dalam tenda yang ada di luar sana. Trus buat yang cowok, kalian tidur di tikar yang udah disediain di luar itu. Mengerti ?” tukas salah satu kakak OSIS.
“Berarti kita pake atap langit dong tidurnya ? kan hawanya dingin banget kak” sahut Wahyu.
“Itu biar kalian tahu rasanya orang-orang susah di luar sana. Waktu terus berjalan. Kami harap kalian bisa gunakan waktu ini sebaik-baiknya. Saya kasih waktu 5 menit buat persiapan kalian tidur. Cepat !”
“Mbak denis nggak apa-apa ta ?” tanya Iis.
Denis yang masih kacau itu pun hanya bisa mengangguk. Hanya Luluh yang ada dalam fikirannya sekarang. Hanya dia seorang.

Keesokan harinya, mentari bersinar cerah. Secerah hati Denis ketika melihat Luluh telah bergabung kembali dengan mereka semua. Seulas senyum pun menghiasi wajah kedua insan itu.
“Kalian pada laper nggak ?”
“Yaaa…”
“Sekarang kalian waktunya sarapan. Kayak biasanya, kelompok 1 ngambil makanannya dulu.”

Mereka pun mengambil jatah makan mereka bergantian. Setelah semua kelompok mengambil makanannya, mereka kembali ke tempat semula.

“Buat session makan, kalian udah tahu peraturannya kan ? kami kasih waktu 5 menit buat ngehabisin makanan kelompok kalian. Dan buat yang belum habis, kami bakal kasih sebungkus nasi lagi buat kelompok itu. Waktunya dimulai dari sekarang !”

Seperti biasa, kelompok Denis selalu nomor satu saat session makan. Itu berkat kekompakan semua anggota kelompok. Seiring berjalannya waktu, Denis semakin menikmati semua itu. Kelompoknya sudah seperti keluarga sendiri seperti tangan dan mata. Saat tangan terluka, mata pun menangis. Dan disaat mata menangis, tanganlah yang menghapus tetes air matanya.
Sarapan pagi pun telah usai, kemudian dilanjutkan dengan pemberian materi.
****

Malam ini adalah malam terakhir mereka berada di puncak ini. Acara api unggun pun telah dimulai. Malam ini setiap kelompok diwajibkan untuk menampilkan kreasi mereka. Urutan penampilan pun dimulai dari kelompok satu.

“Duh mbak, kita mau nampilin apa ya ?” Tanya Iis.
“Hmmm…. Kita nyanyi-nyanyi aja deh… sambil ngitarin api unggun gitu” ucap Denis sambil mencari-cari sesuatu.
“Cari apa sih mbak ?”
“Cari Luluh… kok aku nggak keliatan dia ya ?” balas Denis.
“Mungkin masih di kamar mandi mbak. Ya udah lah, sekarang dah waktunya kita buat tampil nih”.
“Iya iya… Let’s go !”.

Seusai kelompok satu tampil, mereka kembali ke tempatnya semula. Tiba-tiba Mbak Laras, salah satu kakak OSIS, menghampiri Denis.

“Dek, bisa ikut mbak bentar nggak ?” tanyanya pada Denis.
“Oh bias mbak…” sahut Denis.

Setelah berjalan cukup jauh dari api unggun, mereka berhenti.

“Dek, Luluh pengen ketemu kamu. Tapi kamu harus janji ya. Jangan sampe kamu nangis di depan dia. Kasihan dia… kemarin malem, waktu dia kambuh, cuman satu pertanyaannya. Denis nggak apa-apa ta ? Dek, dia tu nggak pengen liat kamu sedih. Please jangan nangis di depan dia ya..”
“Asmanya kambuh lagi ? Astahfirullah…. Ya udah mbak, aku janji nggak bakal nangis di depan dia. Sekarang aku langsung ke tempat dia ya ?” ucap Denis sambil mengambil nafas panjang mencoba untuk tegar. Ia pun melangkahkan kakinya dengan degup kencang jantungnya. Dibukanya pintu kamar itu. Dan pemandangan yang paling tidak Denis inginkan terpampang di depan mata.

“Ya Allah, kuatkan aku” batinnya.

Miris hati Denis ketika melihat Luluh kesakitan. Bahkan hanya untuk bernafas pun begitu sulit baginya. Tatapan mata itu, tatapan mata dari seseorang yang sangat dicintai Denis.

“Aku sayang kamu Luh..” ucap Denis kemudian.
Tiba-tiba butiran air mata jatuh dari pelupuk mata Luluh.
“Ya Allah, aku bener-bener nggak kuat ngelihat semua ini. Tapi aku nggak boleh nangis, nggak boleh.. demi Luluh, aku nggak boleh nangis !” jerit Denis dalam hati. Hanya seulas senyum yang dapat diberikannya untuk Luluh sekarang. Semoga itu bisa jadi sedikit semangat untuknya.
“Dek Luh, Denis udah boleh kembali nggak ? kamu kan udah liat dia kan ?” tanya Mbak Laras. Luluh hanya bisa mengangguk lemas. Denis hanya bisa terdiam, terdiam dalam sejuta harap. Denis dan Mbak Laras segera keluar dari kamar itu.
Tangisnya meledak seketika. Dipeluknya Mbak Laras yang ada di sampingnya.
“Mbak, aku nggak kuat ngeliat dia kesakitan kayak gitu. Sakiiit banget rasanya ngeliat semua itu mbak. Sakiiit banget. Aku pengen tuker posisi aja sama dia. Biarin aku aja yang sakit. Jangan dia mbak.. Aku sayang banget sama dia lebih dari apapun. Aku sayang banget sama dia…” ucap Denis dalam balutan sejuta air mata.
“Aku tahu dek. Aku tahu kamu sayang banget sama dia. Tapi kalo kamu nangis terus kayak gini. Dia malah bakal ngerasa lebih sakit lagi. Kamu percaya sama mbak kan ? dia nggak akan kenapa-kenapa. Percaya itu. Luluh itu kuat. Apalagi dia pengen ngeliat kamu senyum terus. Pasti dia bakal usaha buat ngalahin penyakitnya itu”
“Kenapa harus Luluh yang dapat semua ini ? kenapa harus dia ? kenapa nggak aku aja ?” pertanyaan itu selalu hadir saat Denis melihat begitu besar perjuangan kekasihnya, perjuangan untuk selalu mengukir sebuah senyum pada wajah ini.
****

Keesokan harinya, rombongan LDKS MAN Sidoarjo bersiap-siap untuk pulang. Dengan mata lebam, Denis membereskan semua barang-barangnya. Tak lama kemudian Luluh datang menghampirinya.

“Maafin aku ya udah bikin kamu khawatir. Aku nggak pernah punya maksud buat kayak gitu” ucapnya kemudian.
“Nggak apa-apa kok Luh… Siapa sih yang pengen sakit ? Nggak ada kan ? Kamu udah baikan ?” Tanya Denis.
“Udah kok. Thanks buat doanya”.
“Doa ? Darimana kamu tahu aku berdoa apa nggak ?”.
“Anak-anak udah cerita. Katanya semaleman kamu nangis terus buat aku. Kamu pasti nggak tahu kalau waktu kamu tidur, kamu manggil-manggil namaku”.
“Oh… gitu ya. Jadi malu nih..”.
“Ngapain mesti malu ? Itu kan ngebuktiin besarnya sayang kamu ke aku” ucap Luluh.

Semenjak saat itu, hubungan Denis dan Luluh semakin erat sebab mereka telah menemukan warna-warni cinta mereka berdua. Gemerlap cinta mereka bagaikan Star Of Live.

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Arti Cinta

Cinta tak pernah akan begitu indah jika tanpa persahabatan.....yang
satu selalu menjadi
penyebab yang lain dan
prosesnya...adalah irreversible......
Seorang pecinta yang terbaik adalah sahabat
yang terhebat.
Jika kamu mencintai seseorang, jangan berharap
bahwa seseorang itu akan
mencintai kamu persis sebaliknya dalam
kapasitas yang sama.
Satu diantara kalian akan memberikan lebih, yang
lain akan dirasa
kurang...........
Begitu juga dalam kasus. kamu yang mencari,
dan yang lain akan
menanti......
Jangan pernah takut untuk jatuh cinta....
mungkin akan begitu menyakitkan, dan mungkin
akan
menyebabkan kamu sakit dan menderita.....
tapi jika kamu tidak mengikuti kata hati, pada
akhirnya kamu akan menangis.......
jauh lebih pedih...karena saat itu menyadari
bahwa kamu tidak pernah memberi....cinta.itu
sebuah jalan.
Cinta bukan sekedar perasaan, tapi sebuah
komitmen....
Perasaan bisa datang dan pergi begitu saja......
Cinta tak harus berakhir bahagia.....
karena cinta tidak harus berakhir.....
Cinta sejati mendengar apa yang tidak
dikatakan....
dan mengerti apa yang tidak dijelaskan, sebab
cinta tidak datang dari bibir dan lidah atau
pikiran.........
melainkan dari HATI.
Ketika kamu mencintai, jangan mengharapkan
apapun
sebagai imbalan,karena
jika kamu demikian, kamu bukan
mencintai,melainkan.....investasi.
Jika kamu mencintai, kamu harus siap untuk
menerima penderitaan.
Karena jika kamu mengharap kebahagiaan,kamu
bukan
mencintai....melainkan memanfaatkan.
Lebih baik kehilangan harga diri dan egomu
bersama seseorang yang kamu
cintai dari pada kehilangan seseorang yang kamu
cintai, karena egomu yang tak berguna itu........
Bagaimana aku akan berkata " SELAMAT
TINGGAL "....
kepada seseorang yang tidak pernah aku
miliki ???????
Kenapa tetes air mata jatuh demi seseorang yang
tidak pernah menjadi kepunyaanku ?????
Kenapa aku merindukan seseorang yang tidak
pernah
bersamaku dan kubertanya,
Kenapa aku mencintai seseorang yang cintanya
tidak pernah untukku ????
Sangat sulit bagi dua orang yang mencintai satu
sama lain ketika mereka
tinggal dalam dua dunia yang berbeda..........
Tapi ketika kedua dunia ini melebur dan menjadi
satu, itulah yang disebut KEAJAIBAN !!!!!
Jangan mencintai seseorang seperti
bunga,karena
bunga mati kala musim berganti,
Cintailah mereka seperti sungai, sebab
Sungai mengalir selamanya........
Cinta mungkin akan meninggalkan hatimu
bagaikan kepingan2 kaca,
tapi tancapkan dalam pikiranmu, bahwa Ada
seseorang yang akan bersedia untuk
menambal lukamu dengan mengumpulkan
kembali pecahan2 kaca itu.....
Sehingga kamu akan menjadi utuh kembali......

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