Friday 29 April 2011

Late Bloomers

Have you ever think that you are striving in the wrong path?? Or,  perhaps, you are a loser who have never done something Great?? What is wrong? Is it your wrong which retards you to make something great? Or it's just a fate that you will never do something Big??

I tell you, there is no such that thing! Well, in this post, I will tell you a story about Late Bloomers, people who are shining in the late of his careers.

Well, berhubung gw harus mengetik dengan cepat, ijinkan gw untuk menuturkan kata2 menggunakan Bahasa.


Seperti yang gw tulis di atas, U orang pernah gak ngerasa kalo apa yang lagi u tekunin sekarang tuh keknya salah gitu.. For example, sekarang u orang belajar kedokteran, n entah karena u jarang belajar to mank goblok (There's no such thing!), nilai u orang kok kagak ada yang bagus?? Then pastinya u orang bakal tanya ke diri u sendiri," Apa kedokteran tuh bidang gw ya?? Gw rasa bukan jalan gw nih kedokteran.".

Gak pake boong, gw pernah ngerasa kek gini..Kita semua pastinya mau bersinar di setiap bidang kita, apalagi di studi and, most important, in our marketplace. Gak usah gw yang bilang, Robert Kiyosaki even said ,
"Play a business where you will win, not where you will lose." - Robert Kiyosaki
To explain it to you, my story will based on article "Terlambat Panas" from "What the Dog Saw", written by Malcolm Gladwell. (Ps : He is a Great writter! Personally, I got a vast knowledge from his text!)


In popular conception, we tend to tie Genius with precocity (kecepatan berkarir). The earlier they contribute, the easier for us to judge them as Genius. For example, Justin Bieber starts shining in age of 16. Selena Gomez which has become a star in 17-18, even in my recent age.

Regardless my example, Galenson, an art lover, thinks that the best comparison for Genius concept is Pablo Picasso and Paul Cezanne. Picasso can be considered as prodigy (alias 'Anak Ajaib'). Gimana enggak, dia mulai karier dashyatnya dari umur 20 Tahun with his masterpiece, Evocation: The Burial of Casagemas. Picasso is a perfect figure for our usual ideas about Genius.

In other hand, Cezanne is not. Galenson made a economic analysis for both of them. Lukisan yang dibuat Picasso saat berumur 20an itu harganya empat kali lipat dari lukisan yang dibuat saat berumur 60an. Kebalikannya buat Cezanne. Lukisan Cezanne pada umur 60an dihargai sampi lima belas kali lebih tinggi dari lukisan-lukisannya pada waktu muda. Do you get the point? It's the most differences between prodigy and late bloomers. Antara 'Anak Ajaib' dan orang yang terlambat panas. The young spirit, exuberance, and freshness doesn't affect the Late Bloomers. Karena satu dan lain hal dalam pandangan kita tentang kegeniusan dan kreativitas, kita sering kali gagal memahami Cezanne-Cezanne lain di dunia ini.

Prodigies do things conceptually. The start doing things with clear purpose about where they will go, then they execute it. That's why it's easy to find prodigy. We can clearly see how they work and their prospective career.

However, it doesn't work for Late Bloomers. They works with Experiments. "Their goals are blur, so they will do it little by little", said Galenson in "Old Masters and Young Geniuses," and he continues:
The imprecision of their goals means that these artists rarely feel they have succeeded, and their careers are consequently often dominated by the pursuit of a single objective. These artists repeat themselves, painting the same subject many times, and gradually changing its treatment in an experimental process of trial and error. Each work leads to the next, and none is generally privileged over others, so experimental painters rarely make specific preparatory sketches or plans for a painting. They consider the production of a painting as a process of searching, in which they aim to discover the image in the course of making it; they typically believe that learning is a more important goal than making finished paintings. Experimental artists build their skills gradually over the course of their careers, improving their work slowly over long periods. These artists are perfectionists and are typically plagued by frustration at their inability to achieve their goal.
 The late bloomers will do things repeatedly. Ben Fountain went to Haiti up to 30 times to do his masterpiece, 'Brief Encounters with Che Guevara'. Cezanne asked Geffroy to pose for eight hours in three months before announcing it a failure. Then, to make a portrait of Vollard,  he made Vollard came 8 o'clock in the morning, sat in the rickety platform until 11.30, without any break, for 150 occasions. ( If I were the model, might complaining and groaning for sure).

Itu lah bedanya antara si 'anak ajaib' dengan orang yang terlambat panas. Orang yang terlambat panas menyerupai dengan orang gagal. Pada awal kariernya karya-karyanya akan tampak seperti seni yang tidak akan pernah bersinar. 'Anak ajaib' lebih lancar jalannya. Karya-karya mereka sudah bersinar dari awal karier. Mereka sudah langsung bisa makan dari pasar, yang lain hal dengan orang yang terlambat panas.

Ketika u merasa jenuh atau frustasi dalam hidup yang kita tempuh, u boleh inget dengan kisah orang yang terlambat panas. Whatever is your decision, just do it! Perhaps, u adalah salah satu dari para genius yang terlambat panas. Mungkin terlambat panas adalah option Genius yang tak menyenangkan. Mereka dikenal di masa akhir dalam karier mereka. Mereka bahkan harus menempuh masa-masa di mana karya-karya tak berbeda jauh dengan karya yang pastinya gagal di masa depan. But remember, It does worth!

Tak hanya itu, kisah sukses orang-orang yang terlambat akan dipenuh dengan penanggung (patron). Bagi Cezanne, Emile Zola adalah kunci pertama dalam kesuksesan karirnya. Zola-lah yang meyakinkan Cezanne untuk meninggalkan kampung dan mendalami seni-nya di Paris. Zola adalah orang yang mengajari Cezanne muda ,yang kaku dan sulit membaur, bertahan hidup di Paris. Dia mengajarkan pola belajarnya di Paris, bahkan sampai perincian pengeluaran uangnya.

Lalu, ada pula Camille Pissarro. Pissaro-lah yang mem-backing Cezanne dan mengajarinya melukis. Mereka sering kali pergi ke pedesaan.dan melukis bersama-sama. Lalu, ada juga Ambrose Vollard. Dia adalah sponsor pameran tunggal pertama Cezanne pada umur Lima puluh Enam Tahun. Atas dorongan Pissaro, Renoir, Degas, dan Monet, Vollard mencari Cezanne di Aix.

Terakhir, terdapat ayah Cezanne, seorang bankir Louis-Augeste Cezanne. Sejak kepergian Cezanne dari Aix pada umur 22 tahun, Louis-Auguste selalu mem-backing keuangan Cezanne, bahkan ketika karya-karya Cezanne terlihat tak akan jadi apa-apa selain seniman gagal. Kalau u ada di posisi Auguste, u bakal bisa ngerasain gimana rasanya ngeliat anak u ngelakuin sesuatu yang terlihat bakal gagal, dan bahkan u sendiri yang harus mengongkosi tindakan yang terlihat bodoh itu.

Kalau bukan karena Zola, Cezanne mungkin tetap menjadi putra seorang bankir yang gagal menggapai puncak dalam hidupnya; kalu bukan karena Pissaro, Cezanne mungkin tidak akan pernah belajar melukis; kalau bukan karena Vollard (atas saran Pissaro, Renoir, Degas, dan Monet), lukisan Cezanne bakal jadi santapan rayap di loteng rumah orang; dan kalau bukan karena ayahnya, Cezanne bakal mustahil untuk membiayai masa pembelajaran melukis yang panjang. Itu adalah barisan patron yang amat dashyat dalam menyokong perjalanan Cezanne.

Here is the thing. Tiga orang pertama -Zola, Pissaro, dan Vollard- bakal tetap terkenal meski tanpa Cezanne. Terlebih, yang ke-empat, Louis-Aguste, adalah wiraswastawan amat berbakat yang meninggalkan warisan 400,000 franc untuk Cezanne. Sebagai orang yang luar biasa, Cezanne mendapat bantuan dari orang-orang yang luar biasa pula.


23 April 2011





References :

Gladwel M.. 2008. Late Bloomers. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/20/081020fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all. [Accessed 23 April 11].

Gladwell, Malcolm, 2010. What the Dog Saw. 2nd ed. Jakarta: Gramedia.

Friday 1 April 2011

Respect your Parents!


Hi friends! Welcome to my first blog, with the first post!
Leonard Bunsen is here. I am from Indonesia (you'll see an Indonesia culture in this blog.)  and staying in Singapore, recently. I'm studying in Shelton College International in business course. Yes, that's all about the author, since I'm not promoting my self. Yet, I know you are not interesting with the author.. Hahaha..

In this blog, I would share unforgettable things that I've gotten in my life; worthy to be shared. Those things might from my thought and other people, again, I'll try to credit those people ( To avoid plagiarism??). In conclusion, I won’t give you a shit.

Okay, finish with the greetings. In this chance, I would like to share my own experience about respecting our lovely parents. Please, let me start giving you bedtime story about my parents, especially my beloved Daddy.

I was born with a strict and firm daddy. Trust me, if you think that your parents are strict, they might be no match with mine.

Since childhood, He had taught me to be discipline.. During my primary school, I finished my school at 1 pm. Here is the rule, before 4 pm, all books and homework for the next day, should had been finished. Then, I could go playing outside till 6 pm. 

Then, what would you think if I broke up that rule, even a simple thing, such as went home at 6.15 pm? Being scolded ( I would be so thankful in that period..)? A slap straight on my face, is one of the most magnificent options. It sounds great, doesn't it? The other great option is a pinch on your in-side thigh. The pinch on that sensitive spot will bring you a great sensation in second! (No wonder, in Indonesia, we don’t play with that area, a.k.a selangkangan). Believe it, you ain't interesting to taste it! 
To make it more sensational, he didn't give me in sudden. He will ask me to stand up in front of him, knowing that those punishments will be served in few second later. It will scrape your mental and emotion definitely.

Does it look bad? Well, it hasn't reach the peak.. When I was in my childhood, my father always asked me to massage him. How intense? In one period, I can massage him everyday for 1-2 hours per day.. Sounds cool? Well, I'm not allowed to say no (remember, Rule number one, Parents are always right!), but definitely, it is tiring! That's why, somehow I often took an excuse by said, " Dad, I want to study." (It’s the most potent excuse, man!)
Nb: For you who know me well, that's the ultimate recipe why I could get the top rank at school, even I played CounterStrike during the exam (1st year Junior High School).. 
Do not think I'm a sly son loh! It’s better convert your two hours massage into two hours study right? In fact, which parents don't want their children study? Hahaha.. So, I just convert 2 hours Massaging into 2 hours Studying loh..(Singlish.). Hence, his child got a good score in school lah..  (again, Singlish)

Perhaps you will tell me," Hey, you don't know how irritating my parents! They always rule my life! They do not allow me to do what I want! They decide my university, including my subjects! Those are my future, dude!"

Yes, I'm not you.. Perhaps , I couldn't feel what you fell, think what you think.. But, Hey! We will be a parents! Remember the Reap and Sow Rule! One day, u might do the exact or similar things with what your parents had done to you.. And, here is the consequence :
If you are always complaining to your parents now, don't be so startled, if one day, your child will rebel because of simple reason " Personally, my parents don't know me well." In that time, it will scratch your soul thousands stronger than when you struggle with your flesh to obey your parents.


Then, since September 2009 my father has suffered kidney failure. He also has heart problem for long time. It gave straight slap on my face to obey and devote myself to my parents, especially him. I tried to massage him everyday, at least one hour. Strangely, I do it sincerely! I even left my Dota just to ask him,” Pi, mau di pijit gak? (“Father, do you want I massage you?”). Then, what makes my eyes almost tearing is that he often rejected my request even I’m the one who asked him. Strange? That’s what a PARENT’S LOVE is! Hope you don’t waste your parents’ love by hurting their heart.


One day, when I massaged my father, my father asked me,
Bapak gw :“Leo, u tau gak kenapa papi suruh u pijit papi?”
Gw:” Gak tau pi.” (seperti biasa gw selalu nurut, dan gak berusaha berasumsi)
Bapak gw:”asal kamu tahu, kamu tuh pijit gak ada rasanya.”
Gw: (Trus kenapa sering suruh gw pijit?)
Bapak gw :”Papi suruh kamu pijit, biar suatu hari pas papi gak ada, kamu gak nyesel dan bisa bilang, ‘at least gw dah pijit bapak gw sewaktu dia hidup’.”

My father: “Leo, do you know why I asked you to massage me?”
Me:”I don’t know, father.” ( as usual, I always try to obey him, and not give any prediction)
My father : “Honestly, i feel that you just touch me, not message me.”
Me: (Wondering, why he always asks me to massage him)
My father : “I ask you to message me, because, one day, if I have gone from this world, you won’t repent yourself and be able to say, ‘At least, I had devoted myself by massaging my father’.”
 
Note : The conversation was happened several month after he was diagnosed of having kidney failure. He should take Haemodialyses  three times per week.




*Then, at the end of July 2010, my beloved father passed away in GuangZhou. He died because his heart was stop beating.