Obyek Wisata?

Tadi malam saya diajak menghadiri sebuah pengajian. Di sebuah masjid dalam komplek sekolah. Ruangnya biasa saja. Yang bikin senang adalah cara penyampaian materi pengajian. Bentuknya diskusi dan presentasi dengan slide (powerpoint). Layar proyektornya juga cukup besar. Slidenya bergambar lagi. Nah ini saya jadi ngga ngantuk.

Ingat masa kecil dulu, teman-teman sebaya banyak bercerita tentang novel Lima Sekawan. Saking seringnya dengar obrolan tentang buku itu, saya coba cari tahu. Ternyata bukunya (menurut saya) tebal dan dalamnya tak bergambar. Saya ngga jadi baca. Biarin dibilang ketinggalan trend, daripada harus berlama-lama maksain diri melakukan hal yang membosankan. He he he….

Kembali pada pengajian, materi yang disajikan tentang kemungkaran. Macam jenis kemungkaran dan penyebab timbulnya kemungkaran. Salah satu bahasan menyoroti sifat tidak peduli. Hilang atau minimnya ketidakpedulian sehingga hal buruk “dibiarkan” terjadi terhadap seseorang. Pemateri memberi contoh. Saat Lady Diana meninggal, ada orang sini yang menangis tersedu-sedu. Dia bersedih “mikiri” seorang Lady Di. Seorang keluarga kerajaan negeri jauh. Yang menjalani kehidupan dunianya dengan berbagai fasilitas numero uno. Yang jadi pertanyaan, apakah orang tersebut mau membuka mata hati menyaksikan gelandangan yang tersungkur menanggung lapar di dekat rumahnya? Adakah terbersit rasa peduli?

Sangat mungkin kepedulian ditutup oleh “dalil” yang kurang pas. Misalnya saat melihat kaum papa, pikiran yang melintas adalah : “ Ah, salah mereka ngga rajin kerja”, “Itu mah tanggungan pemerintah, pejabatnya korupsi sih”. Titik. Berhenti sebatas itu.

Ada contoh lain dari pemateri. Ada tetangga seorang ibu bunuh diri bareng anaknya di malam hari raya. Masalahnya? Karena bingung tak bisa beli pakaian baru! Padahal di lingkungan tersebut semestinya ada orang yang mampu membantu. Tapi tidak tahu bahwa ada orang dilingkungannya yang butuh bantuan. Nah ini dia, tak ada koordinasi.

Lemah Koordinasi

Tiba di Madinnah Al Munawwarah, yang dibangun oleh Rasulullah shallahu alaihi wa alihi wa sallam bukan gedung sekretariat untuk mengatur urusan warga yang saat itu baru hijrah. Bukan Kamar Dagang untuk membangun pondasi perekonomian. Bukan pula pangkalan militer sebagai antisipasi kemungkinan serangan musuh.

Yang pertama didirikan adalah m a s j i d !

Sebuah nama tempat yang saat ini lebih kita kenal sebagai tempat menjalankan ritual sholat. Sebuah bangunan yang dinilai dari indah arsitekturnya. Bahkan yang sengaja didirikan sebagai trade-mark daerah atau kota untuk “obyek wisata”.

Dari sekian fungsi yang bisa dijalankan masjid, fungsi koordinasi sangat berhubungan dengan rasa kepedulian. Bahkan sebuah system koordinasi yang tak disadari. Misalnya? Jika masyarakat rajin ke masjid, paling tidak mereka sering saling bertemu. Saling tahu kabar. Kenapa si fulan tak kelihatan, apakah dia sakit? Apakah dia pergi? Apakah dia tertimpa masalah? Dsb.

Sistem koordinasi yang sepertinya “tak disadari” tersebut ternyata sistemastis dan berjenjang. Coba kita perhatikan kenapa sholat jumat tidak dijalankan ditiap masjid? Mengapa harus ada “kuota” untuk sholat jum’at. Baik kuota jumlah (40 org minimal) maupun radius jarak antar masjid untuk jumatan.

Bisa diartikan bahwa salah satu hikmahnya adalah agar terjadi interaksi yang lebih luas. Itu koordinasi “lintas komunitas masjid”. Seminggu sekali.

Excellent!

Lalu kenapa masjid-masjid banyak yang sepi? Apakah karena masyarakatnya yang malas ke masjid, atau masjidnya kehilangan cara untuk “menarik” orang datang?

Tak perlu terlibat debat ayam-telur-ayam atau telur-ayam-telur. Lebih baik masing-masing introspeksi.

Yang gamblang dan jelas, sepinya masjid berarti hilangnya salah satu sistem koordinasi.

Pelangi di Anfield

KICK OFF!

HUP HUP HURRAY!!!

Liga Inggris dimulai lagi. Tapi sebenarnya “teriakan” itu cuman berbentuk tulisan. Lha wong laga perdana Premier League sabtu 16 agustus kemarin tak ditayangin televisi. Kata berita, masih ditender tv mana yang akan dapat hak siar kick-and-rush edisi 2008-2009.

Berhubung sejak tahun lalu laga Liverpool di Premier League memang sudah dikempit sama si ASTRO, ya tahun ini ngga begitu kecewa. Alias sudah terbiasa rajin menunggu berita pagi aja. Atau surf berita via hp. Kalau dicermati, “pertandingan” di koran/ web olahraga juga seru. Berbagai analisis dan komentar bias bikin kegum, gemas atau geli. Jadi ternyata tak kalah seru dengan menonton langsung.

Lebih baiknya lagi, dimulainya liga inggris bikin semangat posting blog muncul kembali. Buat kak Labibah, Mak Nyak dan Mbahnya komunitas blogger, ini lho saya sudah mulai nongol nge-blog. Please, mohon supportnya.

Postingan awal memang berbahasa bule. Ada yang tanya, bagus amat bahasanya? Ha ha ha…apa sampeyan ngga perhatikan? itu kan tak sertakan nama penulis dan dari web mana saya copy. Lha kalau saya sudah bisa nulis boso londo sebagus itu, mungkin saat ini saya sedang sibuk bikin tulisan untuk The Daily Telegraph, Times, atau pun The Sun. dan besok tinggal nge-cek apakah mereka sudah masukin royalty ke rekening saya.

Saat ini saya di Surabaya. Sebuah koordinat bumi yang baru saya labeli sebagai tempat hijrah. Aktifitas hijrah mesti menumbuhkan asa dan semangat baru. Salah satunya ya ini, nulis blog! He he h e….walaupun jam sudah melaju mendekati angka 24.00 WIB, tapi jemari ini masih asyik nunyul-nunyul keyboard. Lha terus bagaimana dengan bobot tulisannya? Huihhhh…ngga repot. Kata Mak Nyak, yang penting tulis saja dulu.

Karena memang jam nulisnya ya sepertinya mesti malam. Sejak jam “arek sekolah” berangkat, saya juga kudu sudah sampai di Pelangi jam 07.00 WIB dan selesai 18.00. kecuali tanggal merah berangkat 08.00 hingga 14.00

Ke Pelangi?? Emang tiap pagi mabur ke langit?

Ngga segitunya sih. Pelangi Express itu judul sebuah travel agency. Melayani ticketing pesawat, kereta, dan kapal. Voucher hotel juga ada (nyambi ngiklan ya…ayo kalau yang butuh tiket kontak Pelangi Express saja…he he he).

Lho kok “ujug-ujug” masuk wilayah travel?

Ceritanya di postingan berikut aja.

People say, early to bed and wake up early make people healthy and wealthy. It’s 24.00 now..early? ups, very!

Bye bye…see you guys

Benitez - A Legend In The Making

Sorry for the long delay between blogs but sometimes sex, drugs and rock n roll gets in the way of my blogging. Anyway I’ve finally managed to climb down from the ceiling after our great Champions League quarter -final victory over the Gunners. What a magnificent match and yet another fantastic European night at Anfield on Tuesday, it was the best game that I’ve seen in years. Of course, it takes two great teams to play a great match and in that regard I think we have to salute Arsenal for more then playing their part. However, and despite the fact that it seems to have escaped the notice of most of the media, I thought it was pretty clear that the best team won in the end.

The majority of the media coverage before, during and after the game seemed to have been almost entirely focused on the Gunners and in some cases I felt they only stopped short of almost demanding an apology from us for daring to beat them. I would readily agree that Arsenal play a good brand of football that is very easy on the eye and I think it would be fair to say that we would be behind them in that regard, that’s not to say that we don’t play some decent football ourselves at times but as I alluded to in an earlier blog, I think Wenger tends to focus more on the art of the game while Rafa tends to focus more on the science.

So while their style of play may win them many admirers, you sometimes need a bit more then just pretty football to be successful in the big games that come around at the business end of the season. Qualities such as character, heart and bottle, and in those regards we are definitely ahead of the Gunners and I think this was clearly demonstrated over our recent trilogy of clashes with them.

Because I think if asked to give an honest opinion on which side played the better football overall in the three games, most people would say Arsenal. But if those same people were asked which of the sides worked harder, defended better and played more as a team, then I think most people would say Liverpool were the better side in each of these areas.

At the end of Tuesday’s game all Wenger could do was moan about the penalty his side weren’t awarded in the first game and while I would agree that it should have been a penalty, such things while very frustrating, happen to all teams over the course of a season and you’ve just got to put it behind you and get on with it.

The truth is that his side had about another two hours of football to play after this incident in which to get the job done and they failed to do so. Liverpool on the other hand, went behind in the tie on three occasions over the two legs but our players never let their heads drop and fought their way back each time and eventually deservedly won the tie by scoring 5 times with four excellent goals and one very well taken penalty.

But this is the kind of stuff that you just don’t read or hear in the media. It seems to me that as far as the vast majority of these clowns are concerned there are some people in the game, namely Ferguson and Wenger, who can never do anything wrong and there are others, such as Rafa Benitez, who can never do anything right and are rarely given any credit.

I know that when we Liverpool fans complain about such things people often accuse us of having a chip on our shoulders but I really don’t care about that crap because some of the anti-Liverpool and particularly the anti-Benitez stuff that I’ve seen in the British media almost since he joined the club, has been really quite shameful and at the very least incredibly unfair.

For example, we constantly hear these media morons spouting off this bullshit about why Rafa didn’t play Torres more during the season when the truth is that when fit, Torres has played more games for us this season then Ronaldo has played for the mancs. Then of course is the fact that when Ferguson decides to rest some of his players, it often gets referred to as him making “strategic changes” to his side but when Rafa does the same it suddenly gets referred to as “tinkering”.

My point is that this almost constant sniping and sneering by many members of the media towards Benitez is bang out of order and other top managers seem to be almost treated with kids gloves in comparison. I know some will say we should just ignore these media idiots but this kind of slanted coverage is not just unfair, but it can also really intensify the pressure on the bosses shoulders.

I suppose the fact that the mancs won the Premiership last season and are in a good position to retain it this season, and are (surprise, surprise) many peoples favourites to also win the Champions League as well, means that we will no doubt have to put up with Ferguson being spoken about with such reverence for a long time to come. However, he’s not the only one and Arsene Wenger also seems to enjoy the love and unwavering support of the media, most definitely in comparison to our boss, but in his case I find it a lot tougher to take because in my view any fair analysis of the two men shows that during his time in the English game, Benitez has proven to be the better manager.

I would certainly agree that Wenger has a great record at Arsenal in an overall context, but what the media seem to conveniently overlook is the fact that his record in recent years pales in comparison to our boss. When Rafa first arrived at Anfield, he inherited a pretty average squad of players from Gerrard Houllier but in contrast to this, Wenger had already enjoyed much success with a very strong established squad that he had spent years building. So I think its fair to say that he had a very big head-start on his Spanish counterpart.

However, in the four seasons since then Arsenal have gotten to two major finals but have won absolutely nothing, while Liverpool under Benitez have won 5 pieces of silverware including a Champions League and an FA Cup, and have also appeared in another Champions League final, a League Cup final, the World Club final and let‘s not forget we are still in with a strong shout of adding another Champions League to this collection this season.

Of course, Rafa also receives a lot of criticism because Liverpool haven’t as yet managed to seriously challenge for the Premiership since he’s been at Anfield, but even in this regard his record is at least equal to Wenger’s. In his first season with us, we finished 25 points behind Arsenal but the following season saw a remarkable turnaround and we finished 15 points above them. Last season, we dropped a lot of points in our last few league games because we were resting a lot of our players ahead of the CL final, but we still managed to finish ahead of them on goal difference, and this season we are currently 8 points behind them but the way they are going at the moment this gap could well get a lot closer.

Besides all of this, there is another couple of myths peddled in the media about Wenger, his record in the transfer market and his record at developing young players, that don’t really stand up too well under scrutiny. In regards to the transfer market, thanks to the big returns he managed to get by selling on players such as Anelka, Vieira and Henry etc over the years, its true that his net spending since he’s been at Arsenal is actually showing a profit, but who cares? Afterall, this is meant to be a football league not an accountancy league and I would much prefer to have silver in the trophy room rather then sitting in the bank.

Wenger does have a good record of identifying and bringing in some excellent young talent to Arsenal but his record at bringing in established players for his first team, isn’t anywhere near as good. Rafa has signed a few dud’s in his time at Anfield but these were relatively inexpensive signing that were shipped out quickly and in almost all cases made a profit. But Wenger has signed a fair few duds of his own and spent a vast fortune on players such as Wiltord, Jeffers and Reyes etc, who all turned out to be expensive flops. Yet another fact that seems to have been conveniently swept under the carpet by the media.

Then we come to the current young Arsenal side that he has developed and that has brought him almost universal praise. Don’t get me wrong, I think he deserves a lot of credit for his young side and the quality of football that they play but what I find quite annoying is that Rafa has also done an awful lot of excellent work in this area but so far, his efforts have been almost totally ignored.

In terms of the average age of the current Gunners side, I think its interesting to note that had Sami Hyypia not played in our recent games against them, then the average age of our side would have been only marginally higher then theirs. And if there are games where Carra and Sami aren’t in our side, which is quite a likely scenario next season, then the average age of our first team is actually lower then theirs.

But it doesn’t end there. Outside of the first team, during Rafa’s time at Anfield, Liverpool have won the FA Youth Cup two years in a row, a few weeks ago our young reserves went to America and won the Dallas Cup and earlier this week they won the reserves league for the first time in about 20 years. Recently we saw Plessis as the first of this collection of young players, making his first team debut and there are at least another 5 or 6 of these players that will be almost certainly challenging for a place in our first team over the next season or two. But while Wenger enjoys an almost unending stream of praise for his work with young players, Benitez’s efforts have so far gone entirely unrecognised.

So I think if you put aside the love affair the media seem to be having with the Gunners boss and judge both men purely on their records and their achievements over the last 4 seasons, I think its very clear that Benitez is way ahead of Wenger. But of course the facts that I’ve written in this blog, don’t get written in the newspapers and don’t get spoken of on TV, because the media is full of hypocrites, too lazy or just too plain stupid to report them.

It’s not that I expect these dickheads to suddenly start throwing roses at our boss, its just that I think it’s a shame that almost none of them have the decency to give him a little bit of credit. Whatever about his achievements in past seasons, this season he was under the most intense pressure both on and off the pitch before Christmas and considering the ongoing turmoil at the club and the disgraceful behaviour of our two idiot owners, I think it is a remarkable achievement that he has managed to turn things around and take us back into the driving seat for fourth place and into the semi-finals of the Champions League.

A lesser manager may well have crumbled in such circumstances, but Benitez is a bit special and if anything, he seems to thrive on pressure. So while these reporters and so-called “experts” always manage to piss me off with their inane and often misinformed opinions, I am content in the knowledge that Rafa will have the last laugh because while the media sneers, The Kop cheers, and that’s the place where Legends are made!

Anyway I’ve rambled on for long enough so just a quick word on tomorrow’s game. I was very happy to see our little neighbours drawing with Birmingham and this gives us an opportunity to once again open up a 5 point gap on them if we can get a win against Blackburn tomorrow. I think the team Rafa selects for the game will largely depend on how well our players have recovered from our tough Champions League victory last Tuesday. Ideally I think he might want to return to the formation that has served us so well recently and bring in Lucas or maybe even Plessis to replace the suspended Mascherano. Anyway, I think we should be playing with confidence and we should be too much for Blackburn at Anfield, so my money’s on a 2-0 win.

Keep the Faith

Written by Gerry on April 13th

http://www.thisisanfield.com/kopblog/#164