Morning Irony

This article is a result of my writing practice during lunch time. I apologize if there are some grammatical mistakes or irrelevance in the meaning.

This morning I came to office at 6.00 a.m as usual. But today is special because I want to have a jog around Monas, the national monument. It's been around 6 months I have never run there for exercise. I used to do it in every evening about 3 years ago and it was very nice, before I was stuck into hectic works.

It is very nice to have fresh air in the morning, among the very big open space such as in Monas. The air waves through greenage providing cool ambience for those who walk around. When came to the area which is the center of monument there was already stage for people to assemble. I was told by the officer that there will be a ceremony to commemorate the birth of Indonesian Employee Association (Korpri). (....still exists?)

Then a distance after the Korpri stage, my running path was also again blocked by even bigger stage. I am sure this stage is designed for musical performance or other arts, because the stage was equipped by a set of sound system and light instruments, which I saw oftenly when a group music show was held. But what impressed me this morning is not the stage itself, instead the billboard next to the stage. It was made in a very big size and luxurious. It consists of colour-pictured story on how Monas has been planned, structured, constructed and decorated.  But what more interesting to me was the people who were there. There were 3 scavengers (pemulung)  seriously reading the billboard and discussing the content one to another. One of them told his friends about what he had read and the other also inform him about his reading. Feeling empahty to those people I toke my mobilephone which hase camera inside, and took their pictures....

One thought came to my mind at the time. Such a billboard might cost million to make. But people who read it this morning may need the money, more than the billboard. How could we provide luxury things while other people still struggle just to afford their daily life?

My God, please forgive us for this inequality...


Monas, @ 7 a.m
29 November 2011

Photo: Blackberry torch 9000