The One we are supposed to hang on to

 Oct 7, 2024 

Dinda said, "I bought this mitch albom book like 4 days ago. Believing it will be as good as his other books. Pas dibuka, patah hati."

The day i got the book, i scrolled thru the first 10 pages. He was portraying God in a human form. I said, hmm, okay, i dont think i can get used to it. Better leave the alboms book for a while and switch to pettersons book.

But still after a week, i havent finish maps of meaning. The small font size, abundant new vocabs, i need to sit and learn while reading this petterson's, its not a book i can read in between schedule, nor while driving, while waiting for the meeting to start, while stuck in traffic jam.

Probably i need to be more open up to this new alboms book i havent touched since i bought it.

Then i realized, I was wrong. Gw ga patah hati jadinya skrg. The beginning was deceiving. The plot of the story, the way albom picturing God as a common human-like entity. but as i try to accept the fate that i already bought the book and i dont wanna waste the opportunity. Luckily, short after i clear my intention and put aside my past feeling, i started to understand the flow and the plot twist. i cant put the book down, because it is actually intriguing and provoking.

This Mitch albom has been my favorite author. My kind of book i would bring to travel. All his book is travel size and the font size is just right. And profound. Always makes me cry wkwkw. So cringe.

Reading a book is like reading people. Sometime we got confused at first and then as we try to empty our cup, only then we can absorp the lesson she/he tries to bring. I like when the pages turn yellow, its like reading a guru full of wisdom. And the smell of old book, simply cannot be replaced by kindle. 

Now, back to the story. Its a story about survival. When there is no one else to hang on to. You and the black dark sea under the ceiling full of stars or thunder, it depends how you please your God. A survivor of a shipwreck. Its always been the same drama when it comes into survival. Life of Pi, Noah's Arc, Jonah and the Whale. Its just the same old myth, for a person like petterson, but its an eye-opener magic for albom. 

When it comes to survival mode, i think even a preacher would be capable of killing. Its been in every human fight response. In helwas book, she referred those animal instinct as ego, in petterson he referred it as the hostile brother, in albom he referred it as hunger and thirst.

But all three of them admit that there are something beyond which capable to limit the inflammation of the ego, hostile brother, and hunger. It is fitra in helwas, son of God's voice in petterson, its the angel sent down to the boat for albom. But they are all referring to God's scenario. Something that "has been there" some of the time its too cloudy to be seen, or the voice is too low in volume you cant hear. The primordial goodness, but in survival mode, its called faith.

Basically it is the story of: "with hardship there is ease." Faa inna ma'al usri yusroo. But i never hope to face such hardship. To be alone and need to survive. PPDS was a story of survival. Survival of the rich and spoiled, for some people i believe they would think so. If PPDS was a test on how I be grateful to Allah's decree then i probably failed most of the time. I cursed too much and shredded. Crawl my way up i think because i abandon my primordial goodness most of the time, dont believe in faith. Maybe just maybe in the future i am in that kinda survival phase, pls remember, dear future dinda, to not let go the rope He created to hang on to.

But He said its okay to repent. Both albom and helwa mentioned about repenteance. But this Petterson, he is just a very scientific, logical person. Reading his book is like pulling me in a sad negative atmosphere. I need to finish the book, i want to understand.