Take initiative

Sometimes I think that there exists people who in my life I consider as weird ones. One example of them is a person who always blames others.

In my opinion, these people are weird. I think that all people are responsible for their own actions and for their own decisions they took. So it is an absurd thing, weird, nonsense and outrageous if someone blames the others for anything he/she did (or did not do).

The easiest case I encounter and see with my own eyes is my self, used to be. Once, my informatics friends (Informatics ITB 99) planed to camp in Manglayang (a camping base near sumedang-bandung, Indonesia). Hearing the news, I gave no cares and only thought "Camping is boring. It only brings pain to my feet and no great experiences can be achieved by doing it.". However, I was wrong.

Based of my participants' story, they experienced some hearth-throbbing adventures, between life-and-death to be exact. Hearing the stories, the first thing I thought is "Damnit! Why did they not ask me to join them? I'd like to obtain those kinds of adventures and experiences.". Weird, huh! I think that my thought that time is really weird. Just think, did I really want to experience such horrible adventures? Did I really have the guts to face them?

I think, if I have the chance to experience them, at that time I will blame everyone who've asked me to join the expedition. So, in whichever condition (join or not join the expedition), I would still blame others. If I joined and faced the situation, I would blame the inisiators. If I rejected (and I did) then I heard the stories, I would blame the one who asked me to join but not asked me more forcefully. Huheueuhe

Anyway, after some contemplation, I realized that basically the one to be blamed is my self. When the invitation is received, rather than actively pursued the detail information and registered, I only waited to be asked (like an important person ^^). I have no initiatives to actively participate. So, if I missed an important and heart-throbbing once in a lifetime moment, that was my own mistake. I had no rights to blame others.

In one of important event in my life, SIAWARE 5, I realized that everything in life is a choice. To be success (with any kind of definition of success or whether Allah SWT grants it) is a choice. To become a failure in life, on the other hand, is also a choice. If I want to become a fluent writer but don't have initiative or want to allocate time to learn writings, that is my own mistake. If I want to become good orator but too timid and passive to learn to elaborate ideas, thats also my own mistake. If I took a hard,difficult thesis topic and not diligently study and do heartfully, of course it's my own mistake.

Then, if I heard a similar story, which reminds me of my old self case, I will say "Take initiatives, please!!!!"