Sejauh Apa Kamu Bermanfaat? | Reviu singkat dan kutipan favorit dari buku Three Cups of Tea oleh Greg Mortenson

Di
antara ribuan bahkan jutaan manusia yang “terlambat” menemukan jalan hidup dan renjananya,
Greg Mortenson dapat dibilang salah satunya. Sebelum memilih satu jalan yang
ingin diperjuangkannya selamanya, Greg adalah banyak hal lain, seperti perawat
dan pendaki. Gagal dalam pendakian ke puncak K2 mempertemukannya dengan sesuatu
itu. Sesuatu yang ingin ia perjuangkan mati-matian: pendidikan bagi
perempuan-perempuan dan anak-anak Pakistan, di tengah terorisme Taliban. Buku
ini membawa misi kemanusiaan, seperti pendidikan hingga perdamaian.

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Saat
berniat membersihkan fail-fail lama dalam laptop tuaku–laptop lungsuran dari
ibuku yang kupakai sejak SMA dan membersamaiku hingga sekarang–kutemukan
dokumen semasa kuliah. Semester 5, pada mata kuliah Extensive Reading: Novels and Periodicals yang seingat saya diampu
oleh Ms. Nova Ariani, kami ditugasi menuliskan laporan tentang buku dan artikel
yang kami baca sepanjang semester dengan jumlah dan format yang telah
ditentukan. Namun, harus ada satu laporan harus ditulis dengan berbeda. Laporan
satu ini bukan ditulis dengan format yang biasanya (yang berisi sinopsis yang disertai
catatan-catatan lain), melainkan berupa kutipan- kutipan (quotes) dari buku itu, yang kemudian harus diberi keterangan untuk
siapa kami mendedikasikan kutipan itu, beserta alasannya. Untuk satu laporan
ini, pilihanku jatuh pada buku Three Cups of Tea karya Greg Mortenson.

Setelah
laporan itu kubaca, rupanya cukup menarik utnuk dikenang dan diunggah di sini.
Pertama, karena aku menyukai buku pilihanku itu. Kedua, karena aku ingin kalian
juga membacanya. Ketiga, karena aku ingin membagikan sedikit sisi personal
dariku, baik berupa pikiran maupun perasaanku, yang tersirat dalam laporan ini.
Namun, mohon diingat bahwa tulisan itu ditulis pada zamannya, yang berarti dua
hal. Pertama, bisa jadi pikiran dan perasaan yang tertuang di situ tidak
mewakili pikiran dan perasaan yang ada sekarang. Kedua, jika ada kesalahan penulisan
maupun kekurangan segala sesuatunya, mohon dimaklumi. Selain karena kekurangan
yang murni dari saya, buku itu saya pinjam dari seorang teman. Dulu sepertinya e-book belum semarak sekarang. Jadi,
jika ada salah tik atau sesuatu yang berbeda dari redaksi dari buku aslinya, saya
tidak bisa mengecek ulang sekarang tanpa membeli buku itu dahulu.

Berikut
ini salinan laporan yang saya tulis waktu itu, dengan sedikit perubahan dalam
bentuk format (format asli dalam bentuk tabel). Oh ya, saya tidak akan mengubah
apa-apa ya, termasuk bahasa yang saya gunakan, yaitu bahasa Inggris. Semoga bisa
dinikmati. Selamat membaca kutipan-kutipan favorit dari buku Three Cups of Tea
karya Greg Mortenson ini! 🙂

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1.   “I don’t know if I particularly want to be
remembered for any­thing,” he heard Hillary say. “I have enjoyed great
satisfaction from my climb of Everest. But my most worthwhile things have been
the building of schools and medical clinics. That has given me more satis­faction
than a footprint on a mountain.” (Page 130)

(I dedicate this quote to
my mother)

This beautiful quote is
definitely for a person whom I consider as the most sincere and genuine person
in my life. I associated this quote to her since I know she had her degree and
now being a teacher, but the best achievement she has ever had is being a
mother. This quote was like telling me not to let her down. I also want her to know
that it’s okay not to be remembered by the world, for at the very least she has me who will always
remember her.

2.  It may seem absurd to believe that a
“primitive” culture in the Himalaya has anything to teach our industrialized
society. But our search for a future that works keeps spiraling back to an
ancient connection between ourselves and the earth, an interconnectedness that
ancient cultures have never abandoned. —Helena Norberg. (Page 136)

(I dedicate this quote to
my father)

My father is a gardener,
florist, as well as environment activist. Talking about nature reminds me of him. Just
like the writer says, he also believes that humans are connected to the earth.
If humans become savage, greedy, and uncontrollable, then we must wait for the
time when the earth does the same towards us.

3.    Look what you have done for yourselves and
how much more you can do. (Page 38)

(I dedicate this quote to
my little sister)

I have a sister 9 years younger than me. She is actually
intelligent, so much more than I am. The thing is that she is stuck in a “poor” school
and I can see her feeling kind of inferior.

4.   No human, nor any living thing, survives
long under the eternal sky. The most beautiful women, the most learned men,
even Mohammed, who heard Allah’s own voice, all did wither and die. All is
temporary. The sky outlives everything. Even suffering. —Bowa Johar, Balti
poet, grandfather of Mouzafer Ali. (Page 198)

(I dedicate this quote to
myself)

This quote just slapped me on the face,
made me realize that nothing lasts forever. Triumph and pain, fame and famine,
everything will end on its time. So I don’t think I need to worry too much
about life. I wish, I really wish I can remember this quote for good.

5.     A smile should be more than a memory.
(Page 154)

(I dedicate this quote to
my late relatives)

This made me feel blue
recalling my memories about people I loved, who have already died. My
grandparents, my uncle, my brother, and some of my best friends. I won’t let
your smiles just be a piece of memory in my head. I will write it in my diary of life so I can remember it, and of course I will pray for us all.

6.    Welcome to my life. (Page 133)

(I dedicate this quote to
my best friends)

I want to thank and tell
them how grateful I am for having the best friends in the world who stay beside
me even when they know my scars, my weakness, and that I am a wretch. It almost feels like I don’t deserve them at all.

7.   “Everything about their life was a
struggle,” Mortenson says. “They reminded me of the way Christa had to fight
for the simplest things. And also the way she had of just persevering, no
matter what life threw at her.” (Page 31)

(I dedicate this quote to
all strong people around the world)

This quote is for people
who work harder than the others, but get much smaller than what they deserve. These
people do not have lots of choices in their lives, but they still do their best day by day.
So, I appreciate their effort by dedicating this quote for them.

8.   At night, bachelors like Twaha and
Mortenson took advantage of the mild weather to sleep under the stars. (Page
120)

(I dedicate this quote to
Mr. X)

I don’t really want to
know or very curious about who my future significant other will be, but I just dream
about having a late night conversation under the stars with him and sleep among the
coarse grass and fireflies till dawn.

9.    You can’t tell mountains what to do. (Page
149)

(I dedicate this quote to
the government officials)

No matter how sick you
are of the government officials, presidents, or corruptors, you cannot just say
what you want them to do, right? I want to tell them this quote so that they
know that we cannot control them in any effective way, so would they PLEASE control and behave themselves according to the law as well as ethical norms?

10.  Our
earth is wounded. Her oceans and lakes are sick; her rivers are like running
sores; The air is filled with subtle poisons. And the oily smoke of countless
hellish fires blackens the sun. Men and women, scattered from homeland, family,
friends, wander desolate and uncertain, scorched by a toxic sun. (Page 314)

(I dedicate this quote to
the Earth destroyers and law breakers)

I want to give this quote especially
for people whom I have seen them littering in the river and roads, people who
vandalize, people who destroy public possessions like table in the class, wall
in the bathroom, riding motorcycle on the sidewalk, and also people who drive
cars or motorcycles when they can actually commute on foot, by bicycle, or public transportation.
The reason is simple, I want them to know that our Mother Earth is dying.

Pic source: First, Second.