8 - Fighting for Independence

Uploaded the next day because the internet couldn't upload the photo.

No, I’m not going to ramble about the usual issue of women independence as I usually would in this blog. This is purely about the commemoration of our Indonesia’s Independence Day.

This is Pak Mikael. Yes, that is how you spell his name and it’s not a typo. Pak Mikael just threw up on the concrete floor after running about half a kilometer, in the group race I organized to commemorate the nations Independence. This was also after I made him, and other runners of his lag, sing first before the next runner can continue. Singing after running is no trip the park, hey? (Myihihihihi… I’m so good of making challenges for other people). He was totally hesitant to participate, but once we found him teammates, he was all in. For a man of his age, after numerous soccer games during previous days, and having sore butt muscles, it’s amazing how he could ever make it in the first place. You got to salute the dude’s spirit to celebrate!

I felt bad encouraging him as I saw him lay there. But looking at him, he’s blessed with something called ‘fighting for a cause’. He kept running, no matter how slow, for the sake of the rest of his teammates. For a few seconds Pak Mikael understood how he fought for something bigger than himself to a point where the contents of his stomach chose to rebel against the flow of digestion and spill out on the pavement. He fought.  He didn’t give up and complain. He just almost fainted, that’s all.

Today, we all enjoy the benefits of the 66^th Independence Day. As the second generation to enjoy this state of freedom, I can say that most of us have no idea what it felt like during the war. How people are in constant lost of everything including lives. Little do understand how bad a war is, how much it takes and how it does not give. I hear this all the time in school but never really understood what it meant.

Have you? Wait… that’s not right. Have I been like this? Hardly. That day, I was just standing on the sidelines. I just stood there and realized that if I did love this country, I would have to reach such a point in my life, as Pak Mikael did on that concrete floor. And even though this race is worthless to the state of the nation, his participation shows that he rejoices the good spirit to commemorate the independence his founding father gave him. Well at least I got something out of it. His vomit was not a waste.  

You know what? With one deft person on his team (second from the right) that needed primordial sign language to past his question at his post, Pak Mikael and teammates did an excellent job. Guess what place did he and his team mates come in? 

Ps: Did you have your patriotic photo ready?