Selamat Natal?

Setiap datang hari Natal, ummat Islam, terutama pemimpinnya ribut. Yang satu bilang, "demi menjaga kerukunan antar ummat beragama, dan menunjukkan rasa kebersamaan dalam masyarakat yang majemuk, sebaiknya ummat Islam mengucapkan selamat natal kepada rekan atau kerabat mereka yang merayakan natal". Yang lain bilang,"..eit nanti dulu. Islam ngga mengakui ketuhanan Yesus yang hari lahirnya dijadikan sebagai hari raya oleh umat kristen. Kalo ikut-ikutan ngucapin selamat natal, apalagi ikutan ngerayain, bisa-bisa dianggap kita membenarkan ajaran yang 'salah' itu. Karena itu, sebaiknya ngga usah deh... ngucapin selamat natal segala, supaya akidah umat Islam ngga tercemar."

So what? Masing-masing bertahan dengan pendapatnya, dan saling mempengaruhi. Anehnya, yang merasa perlu mengucapkan natal beranggapan bahwa mereka yg ngga mau ngucapin natal itu berpikiran sempit dan picik. Padahal menurut mereka ngcuapin natal itu ngga mempengaruhi akidah sama sekali. Toh ngucapin selamat natal tidak berarti mengakui ketuhanan Yesus. Lagian Yesus, yang dalam Islam disebut Isa, kan juga manusia yang harus dihormati oleh umat islam sekalipun.

Sementara yang merasa mengucapkan natal itu ngga perlu bilang mereka yang ngucapin natal itu sudah mengorbankan akidahnya untuk sesuatu yang ngga penting. Ngga ngucapin natal kan bukan berarti membenci orang kristen. Lagian ngga ada tuh pengaruhnya antara ngucapin natal sama kerukunan. Kalo emang ribut, ribut aja, bukan karena ngucapin natal ato ngga.

Yah... begitulah kita, masing-masing bertahan dengan pendapatnya dan menjelek-jelekkan pihak lain.

End year party

I just attended an end year party held by McGill's Ancillary services. The party took place at the new residence hall building. Although, they didn't call it christmass party, the decoration was pretty much christmass: lights, candles, christmass tree, and even santa claus.

Talking about christmass tree, there was a debate in one of the Canadian cities, I guess it was Halifax, few days ago. The people of the city gave a huge christmass tree to people in Boston. However, taking into consideration the multifaith nature of the society, people in Boston called it holiday tree, instead of Christmass tree. This made people in Halifax unhappy. They said it is a christmass tree, and it was meant to be a christmass tree. They even pass a legislation to affirm that the kind of tree with decorations that people have every end of a year is called Christmass tree !

Well, back to the Ancillary party. It was not a huge party, but it was not by any mean small. Because Ancillary services has a number of divisions, including: Printing services, mail services, copy services, course packs, and faculty club. I believe there are some others that i don't know. The foods were great: salads, pasta, salmon, baked potatoes, salsa sauce, chicken, and some other stuff. And, what will be a party without drink, at least according to Canadians? People went crazy with beer and wine. I hope they didn't forget that they have to go back to work.

I went to the party with Nick, who hesitated to come at first, but quite enjoy the party once he was there.

Daniel (my boss) told us that this was the first end year party that involved all of the people at Ancillary. There used to have end year meeting, but it was only for certain people at the top positions.

The thing that surprise me the most was the Santa Clause. I am not surprise with the fact that Santa Claus comes to a christmass party, but he comes in adult chrissmast party. So, someone dressed with a Santa clause costume and sat in front of the tree. And then, there were Christmass presents. I thought Santa Clause and Christmass presents are just for kids. What a party...

what is this?

Everyone has a head, and we always refer to one's head to express thinking. This is because we know that head is where our brains are located.

In many occassions, when we're silent we have something in our minds. Thing that sometimes cannot make us sleep and eat well. This thing can be about our relationship with others, our plans for future, our responses to an event, or even our unforgiven mistakes.

Don't you ever wacthed Mel Gibson's What women want? where Nick can read women's unspoken thought. Sometimes, what we have in our mind is something important or valuable, yet we don't speak it out loudly for many reasons: shy, afraid, don't find appropriate moment, or don't have a way to express it.

here u go... we have blog. why don't we use blog to express thing that comes across our minds. So, this is what I am trying to do. I hope I can maintain this continuously.