TAX AND CIVILIZATION. Tax is the cost of civilization. We come out of a museum, walk while whistling safely, and know that there’s not much in the world for free, and it’s getting more and more expensive. A nation, difficult to walk without taxes. People’s libraries, urban parks, nursing homes, firefighters, public schools, social assistance without taxes are all in jeopardy of budget shortfalls. Continue reading
SELF EVALUATION. Tonight, in this muhasabah1), along with the notes I have ever made. I realized with such a high ego, I made artificial wings, and when I fell, wounded others. I am sorry for the mistakes I made, and the mistakes that occurred because I did not do. Continue reading
THE ORIGIN OF THE COFFEE CULTURE IN ACEH. Coffee culture was not found in Aceh until near the end of the 19th Century. An orientalist who became a sociocultural researcher, Snouck Hurgronye wrote in The Achehnese Volume I, during his research of the Acehnese, “For most ordinary people in Aceh, white water is almost the only drink, from time to time (occasionally) it will drink sugar cane juice, squeezed from the trunk only with a very primitive tool.” Continue reading
HOW TO TELL HISTORY. A good historian knows that he is drawing. He tells something, a circumstance, an event, from a situation he might not see, he does not face. Because the material of history is actually like a canvas of memory. Continue reading
A SUFI SONG
I have ever felt defeat
Then hide in the cave above the mountain peak
Trying to avoid the sun
Enjoying quiet in meditation Continue reading
AFTER THE REVOLUTION ENDED. In the long war, all good people, smart, critical, and principled people, all dead, killed. All that remained was the two-headed people! Continue reading
HISTORICAL REPETITION. Human life may be written in a different way but the cycle is always the same, so the conclusions are taken by the historians of ancient Persia. But are the conclusions taken by them true? Sometimes we feel had learned from the experiences of people in the past, learn from the mistakes made by people in the past but we subconsciously repeat the behavior of the people before us. Continue reading
CIRCLE OF HATRED. Those who are fearful when pressed turn out (often) to be very fierce when in power, people who are severely tortured by a situation is often a more oppressive ruler harder than its predecessor. If one to get a job to bribe 100 million, then when the grasp of power will ask for a bribe of 200 million and continue. Continue to grow into a snowball from time to time, will never be finished and eventually become a circle of Hatred. Continue reading
HOW TO INHERIT THE GREATNESS.
How many great people in the history of the world? When we open the pages of history then pretty much we find the characters with extraordinary glory but how much they leave the people who will continue their brilliance, unfortunately only a few of them are aware. Continue reading
GOLD, INFIDELS, AND DEATH. In the 19th century, Westerners continued their exploration of various parts of Asia to exploit the riches of the so-called colored peoples. In this endeavor, they face various reactions of the local community to which they come. Continue reading
