Saya benar-benar tak akan menyangka bisa menginjakkan kaki di kota Yogyakarta sebelumnya. Saya bukan tipikal orang yang suka travelling. Jika bukan karena seorang kawan yang mengajakku kesana, mungkin saya tidak akan bisa mengunjungi tempat ini. Selama berkunjung ke Jogja, kami memiliki tujuan utama yaitu untuk mencari referensi buku yang akan kami (munkin lebih tepatnya temanku) gunakan untuk bahan skripsi. Namun disamping itu kami juga memiliki berbagai tempat tujuan lain, salah satunya adalah Pohon Beringin Kembar di Alun-alun Keraton Kidul Jogja. Saya dan teman-teman mencoba untuk melewati kedua beringin kembar itu. Konon katanya jika berhasil melewatinya dengan tanpa melihat, permintaan kita akan terkabul. I tried it finally. Pertamanya saya gagal tetapi saat saya mencoba untuk kedua kalinya saya berhasil!!!

Setelah mencobanya saya mulai berfikir “Saya rasa ada sebuah pesan esensi dari hal ini”. Dari hal ini saya menganalogikan aksi ini dengan realita dalam kehidupan kita.

1. Saat mata kita ditutup, tak ada yang bisa kita andalkan kecuali suara hati kita. Maka kepercayaan diri sangat diperlukan. Sekali lagi, mata kita tertutup dan itu membuat kita harus memiliki kepercayaan yang kuat untuk berani melangkah ke depan. Sebisa mungkin kita juga menerapkan kepercayaan diri dalam melangkah menuju impian hidup. Karena memang kepercayaan diri merupakan kunci awal. Bagaimana tidak? Semisal kita dalam sebuah job interview, kita memiliki keahlian, kemampuan, dan penampilan tapi kita tidak memiliki kepercayaan diri yang cukup, sudah dipastikan apa yang akan selanjutnya terjadi (I’ll let u guess what will happen next).

2. Selama berjalan, saya mendengar banyak suara-suara orang lain. Beberapa bilang “jalan terus” dan tak sedikit yang bilang “awas tembok”. Dan jika pikir lebih dalam memang dalam kehidupan akan terjadi hal ini. Saat dimana kita melakukan atau mengambil tindakan untuk diri kita dan tak sedikit orang-orang yang berkomentar. Beberapa komentar memang kadang ada benarnya tapi tidak sedikit yang justru menjerumuskan. Nah, semua itu kembali ke diri kita untuk memilah-milih mana yang perlu kita dengar. Memang kita lah yang menjalani hidup kita tetapi sebagai makhluk sosial terkadang kita juga memerlukan suara atau pendapat orang lain. Tak selamanya yang benar bagi kita, benar pula bagi orang lain atau masyarakat sekitar.

3. Fokus. Sehebat apapun cara jalan kita, jika kita tidak memiliki fokus yang bagus, kita akan kesulitan untuk melewati kedua beringin ini. Hal ini saya pikir juga berlaku saat kita berusaha mencapai impian kita. Fokus sangatlah diperlukan agar kita tidak tahu batas-batas dan jalur yang harus kita tuju. Memiliki fokus artinya kita memiliki starting point yang selanjutnya kita juga memiliki vision untuk garis akhir kita.

Setelah berfikir mengenai hal di atas saya mulai melakukan kajian realistis internal dengan diri saya sendiri. Saya rasa saat kita diiming-imingi dengan pernyataan bahwa permintaan atau impian kita akan tercapai saat kita berhasil melewati kedua beringin itu memang masuk akal. Masuk akal bukan karena nilai majis yang tergantung di dalamnya tetapi lebih karena sebuah nilai yang bisa kita korelasikan dengan realitas kita dalam mencapai tujuan. Karena saat kita mencoba meraih impian kita, tentunya kita memerlukan ketiga hal di atas yang juga diperlukan saat kita ingin berhasil melewati kedua beringin itu.

So, anda mau percaya atau tidak dengan mitos ini, it’s all up to u. Yang jelas saya telah mencoba dengan keinginan yang cukup aneh dan muluk-muluk yaitu mendapatkan uang satu miliar dan lulus tahun ini. Kalau dipikir-pikir saya bisa saja mendapatkan kedua hal itu asalkan saya memiliki kepercayaan diri, pintar memilih komentar orang, dan fokus.

foto beringin kembar di alun-alun keraton selatan Jogja.

Then again, he stealthily embraces his power to stay living in this savage atmosphere. It ain’t his first time that he has to pass throu’ this shit. But he stops just to find out what he missed so far. It is his friend, the fragrance of emptiness. Hunting him with no stop. It’s so fierce to face by himself. The air that he breathes is so black. He can’t reach it. He still tries until that moment finally arrives. And there it is, the moment of freedom.

In a morning of a glory, a boy is learnin’ to soar. Thou’ he knows well that it is nonsense to do. B’cause there is an element missing. Dat it even ain’t his failure. He finds the truth. He ain’t got wings to help him leaving his land. It’s gettin’ worse when he is pushed away by the miscellaneous powers. It is land dat suffers his breath. There is no comparison for what the situation holds him down. It seems like the place where he stands on is a quicksand. He somehow gazes at nowhere even he has vision. It is obviously deed for him dat he gets totally fatigued…

Once again, he tries. Technically he tries.

But it is out of his capability to stand on his ground. But still he tries until he runs out his breath. Until his blood stops running thru’ his vein.

When I was a kid, I had my own fantasy. Just like the other kids, it was a fantasy which is really unrealistic yet fun. I always dreamt of being a mutant, just like X-Men. Having sharp claws, reading others’ mind, and other stuffs that I really adored is my mere hope though it sounds kinda weird. But hey, I was a kid :p

In X-Men itself, the mutant becomes minor group where they have to survive within the situation that push them in the corner of society (human one). They indeed are divided into two sides. One becomes the protagonist. Those who become protagonist are Mr.X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, etc. And the other who is bad guy alliance. They are Magneto, Mystique, etc (well, I ain’t a bad guys fan so I am just able to mention two). I did have a fantasy which I had one of those powers to kick ass people that I hate.

Well actually this fantasy still remains until now even though I have “2” for my fore age number. But the difference is the though between what this movie projects as fiction one and what its relation with the real minor group in America (well, then i was thinking that it doesn't only happen in America, but i just want to specify it).

As I mention above that this movie tells about distinguished people who have special ability that doesn’t exist in normal humans. That is what I mean with the message of this movie as fiction one. Since we know that so far, there are no scientists saying that these creatures (mutants) exist. It is just a movie to amuse public. Therefore, it entertains those who somewhat love fiction (such as me).

However beyond the message telling that it is fiction movie, I believe that there is something behind that, something that could be the image of America (since it comes from America). Let us see what this movie displays about mutants as minority. I see that it could be the common issue with the “real” minority in America. Yes, we’re talking about Blacks, Chicanos, gay, and their friends. If we look back in history, we will find out that there were movements acted by those communities. There were Malcolm X, Virginia Wolff, and Milk. Those are people who wanted to stand up on their own ground and stated that though they weren’t as much as the majority groups but still they have rights to pursue their dream. This could be in the same way with the explicit issues in X-Men.

In X-Men, we could see the movement from mutants though it is in diplomatic way or even in radical one. I say diplomatic since there are mutants such as Jean Grey and Mr. X who try to set their community in the same level with human’s. In X-Men I, we see the scene where Jean was having a forum with human debating and negotiating about mutant’s rights. We could see as well in X-Men III which there is Beast as Mutant Ministry. It shows us that these mutants want to have the same rights with human and delete the strata of society in a way to avoid war and victims. And as we know that the women movement had similarities point with this one, there were some American female writers who tried to break the women discrimination at that time. They wrote to speak what they couldn’t express. In the other hand, we also have mutants who want to dominate and hold the supreme in a radical way. Of course they are the antagonist ones. They do whatever it takes in order to put their society above human being. They lost a fight to pursue what they’ve dreamt of.

However, I couldn’t stop thinking of what really happens in our society. What should be spoken is sometimes forbidden. There might be an opinion that there will be brighter day for everybody. But I just don’t find that shiny and promising path for those minority groups. Hopefully it is about the time to wait that moment. A moment to make a move.