CINCIN EMAS & KEARIFAN

Suatu pagi Zhi Zhou mendatangi Zun-Nun dan bertanya, "Guru, saya tak
Mengerti mengapa guru berpakaian apa adanya, amat sangat sederhana.
Bukankah di masa seperti ini berpakaian sebaik-baiknya amatlah penting, bukan hanya untuk
penampilan melainkan juga untuk banyak tujuan lain."

Sang Guru hanya tersenyum.
Ia lalu melepaskan cincin dari salah satu jarinya, lalu berkata, "Zhi Zhou, akan
kujawab pertanyaanmu, tetapi lebih dahulu lakukan satu hal untukku.
Ambillah cincin ini dan bawalah ke pasar di seberang sana.
Bisakah kamu menjualnya seharga satu keping emas?"
Melihat cincin Zun-Nun yang kotor, pemuda tadi merasa ragu,
"Satu keeping emas? Saya tidak yakin cincin ini bisa dijual seharga itu."
"Cobalah dulu anak muda, Siapa tahu kamu berhasil."

Zhi Zhou pun bergegas ke pasar.
Ia menawarkan cincin itu kepada pedagang sayur, penjual daging dan ikan.
Ternyata, tak seorang pun berani membeli seharga satu keping emas.
Mereka menawarnya hanya satu keping perak.
Tentu saja, Zhi Zhou tak berani menjualnya dengan harga satu keping perak.

Ia kembali ke padepokan Zun-Nun dan melapor,
"Guru, tak seorang pun berani menawar lebih dari satu keping perak."

Zun-Nun, sambil tetap tersenyum arif, berkata,
"Sekarang pergilah kamu ke toko emas di belakang jalan ini.
Coba perlihatkan kepada pemilik toko atau tukang emas di sana.
Jangan buka harga, dengarkan saja bagaimana ia memberikan penilaian."

Pemuda itu pun pergi ke toko emas yang dimaksud.
Ia kembali kepada Zun-Nun dengan raut wajah yang lain.
Ia kemudian melapor, "Guru, ternyata para pedagang di pasar tidak tahu nilai
sesungguhnya dari cincin ini.
Pedagang emas menawarnya dengan harga sepuluh keping emas.

Rupanya nilai cincin ini sepuluh kali
lebih tinggi daripada yang ditawar oleh para pedagang di pasar."

Zun-Nun tersenyum simpul sambil berujar
lirih, "Itulah jawaban atas pertanyaanmu tadi.
Seseorang tak bisa dinilai dari pakaiannya..
Hanya "para pedagang sayur, ikan dan daging di pasar"
yang menilai demikian. Namun tidak bagi "pedagang emas".

"Emas dan permata yang ada dalam diri seseorang,
hanya bisa dilihat dan dinilai jika kita mampu melihat hingga
ke kedalaman jiwa.
Diperlukan kearifan untuk menjenguknya, dan itu butuh proses.
Kita tak bisa menilainya hanya dengan tutur kata dan sikap yang kita
dengar dan lihat sekilas.

Life is a Process
Process Must Be Measurable
Anything that can be measured can be improved upon


Satu-satunya orang yang selamat dari kecelakaan sebuah kapal terdampar di pulau yang kecil dan tidak berpenghuni. Pria ini segera berdoa supaya Tuhan menyelamatkannya, dan setiap hari dia mengamati langit dan mengharapkan pertolongan, tetapi tidak ada sesuatupun yang datang.

Dengan capainya, akhirnya dia berhasil membangun gubuk kecil dari kayu apung untuk melindungi dirinya dari cuaca dan untuk menyimpan beberapa barang yang masih dipunyai.

Tetapi suatu hari, setelah dia pergi mencari makan, dia kembali ke gubuknya dan mendapati gubuk kecil itu terbakar dan asapnya mengepul ke langit. Dan yang paling parah pria itu kehilangan semua miliknya.

Dia sedih dan marah kepada Tuhan dan berseru, "Tuhan, teganya Engkau melakukan ini kepadaku?" dia menangis.

Pagi-pagi keesokan harinya, dia terbangun oleh suara kapal yang mendekati pulau itu. Kapal itu datang untuk menyelamatkannya.

"Bagaimana kamu tahu bahwa aku di sini?" tanya pria itu kepada penyelamatnya. "Kami melihat tanda asap yang berasal dari pulau ini" jawab mereka.

Mudah sekali untuk menyerah ketika keadaan menjadi buruk. Tetapi kita tidak boleh goyah, karena Tuhan tetap bekerja di dalam hidup kita, juga ketika kita dalam kesakitan, kesusahan. INGATLAH KETIKA GUBUKMU TERBAKAR, ITU ADALAH "TANDA ASAP" BAGI KUASA TUHAN UNTUK BEKERJA. Ketika ada kejadian negatif terjadi dalam hidup ini, kita harus berkata pada diri kita sendiri bahwa Tuhan pasti mempunyai jawaban yang positif untuk kejadian tersebut.

Kamu berkata : Itu tidak mungkin

Tuhan berkata : Tidak ada hal yang mustahil bagiKu (Lukas 18:27)

Kamu berkata : Aku terlalu capai

Tuhan berkata : Aku akan memberikan kelegaan padamu (Matius 11:28)

Kamu berkata : Tidak ada seorangpun yang mencintai aku

Tuhan berkata : Aku mengasihmu (Yohanes 3:16, Yohanes 13:34)

Kamu berkata : Aku tidak bisa meneruskan.

Tuhan berkata : Kasih karuniaKu cukup (2 Korintus 12:9, Mazmur 91:15)

Kamu berkata : Aku tidak mengerti

Tuhan berkata : Aku akan menuntun langkah-langkahmu (Amsal 3:5-6)

Kamu berkata : Aku tidak bisa melakukannya

Tuhan berkata : Kamu bisa melakukan semuanya (Filipi 4:13)

Kamu berkata : Ini tidak berharga

Tuhan berkata : Itu akan berharga (Roma 8:28)

Kamu berkata : Aku tidak bisa memaafkanmu

Tuhan berkata : Aku memaafkanmu (1 Yohanes 1:9, Roma 8:1)

Kamu berkata : Aku tidak bisa mengatasi

Tuhan berkata : Aku akan menyediakan kebutuhanmu (Filipi 4:19)

Kamu berkata : Aku takut

Tuhan berkata : Aku tidak memberikan padamu roh ketakutan (2 Timotius 1:7)

Kamu berkata : Aku tidak bisa memaafkanmu

Tuhan berkata : Aku memaafkanmu (1Yohanes 1:9; Roma 8:1)

Kamu berkata : Aku tidak bisa mengatasi

Tuhan berkata : Aku akan menyediakan kebutuhanmu (Filipi 4:19)

Wartakanlah, ini pada siapa saja yang membutuhkan. Saya percaya ada saat-saat dimana kita merasa "gubuk" kita terbakar.

What Mr. Obama and his team achieved was impressive. But in 75 days comes the hard part. We saw a glimpse of the challenge Tuesday night. The president-elect's speech, while graceful and at times uplifting, was light when it comes to an agenda. That may have been appropriate, but it also continued a pattern.

Many Americans were drawn to Mr. Obama because they saw in him what they wanted to see. He became a large vessel into which voters placed their hopes. This can lead to disappointment and regret. What of the woman who, in the closing days of the campaign, rejoiced that Mr. Obama would pay for her gas and take care of her mortgage, tasks that no president can shoulder?

The country voted for change Tuesday. But the precise direction of that change remains unclear. Mr. Obama's victory was personal rather than philosophical. The soaring hopes and vague incantations of "change" that have characterized the last 21 months were the poetry phase; a prosaic phase is about to begin.

This should be an interesting few years. Let every American hope for the success of the new president and the country we all love.

Mr. Rove is a former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.



Now that Barack Obama has vanquished John McCain, he faces a much greater foe: Democrats on Capitol Hill. They've humbled the last two Democratic Presidents -- and with their enhanced majorities next year, they'll be out to do it again.
[Review & Outlook] AP

Mr. Obama may appreciate the threat, because yesterday he offered Clinton White House veteran Rahm Emanuel a job as his chief of staff. But even that savvy, relatively sane liberal will have difficulties grappling with the fearsome committee chairmen and liberal interest groups that did so much to sabotage Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Meet the President-elect's real opposition:

David Obey. The Appropriations Chairman wants to slash defense spending as a money grab for more social programs and entitlements. Fellow spender Barney Frank recently added that a military budget cut of 25% was about right. A military crash diet wouldn't leave the funds for the surge in Afghanistan that Mr. Obama advocates, and it's a sure way to hand the national security issue back to the GOP.

Chuck Schumer. The Senate Democrat and his friends are already threatening banks if they don't lend more money instantly under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Other political masters want to use Tarp to nationalize large swaths of U.S. industry such as the Detroit auto makers or to bail out states like New York that are in debt. If Mr. Obama doesn't want to have to pass a Tarp II, he'll have to say no.

George Miller. Some Democrats are starting to target the tax subsidies for 401(k)s and other private retirement options. Mr. Miller, who heads the House Education and Labor Committee, calls them "a big failure" and recently held a hearing to ponder alternatives, including nationalizing pensions and replacing them with special bonds administered by Social Security. The proposal has also caught the eye of Jim McDermott, who chairs the relevant Ways and Means subcommittee. Mr. Obama won big with his promise of tax cuts for the middle class, which doesn't square with attacks on middle-class nest eggs.

John Conyers. The man running House Judiciary is cheerleading the Europeans who want to indict Bush officials for war crimes. Other Democrats are thinking about hearings and other show trials. This is far from the postpartisan reconciliation that Mr. Obama preaches.

Henry Waxman. With President Bush soon to be out of office, the Californian's team of Inspector Clouseaus at House Oversight won't have any "scandals" left to pursue. The word in Washington is that Mr. Waxman is looking to unseat John Dingell as Chairman of Energy and Commerce, in order to shove aside a global warming moderate. That could pave the way for huge new energy taxes. Voters will punish Mr. Obama if they get hammered every time they fill up the gas tank or buy groceries.

Pete Stark. The Chairman of a crucial House subcommittee dealing with health care doesn't think Mr. Obama's proposal to significantly federalize the insurance market goes far enough. He wants a single-payer system like Canada's. Mr. Obama may want to strike a deal with Senate Republicans on health care, but Mr. Stark will be pulling him left at every turn.

All of these feudal lords -- and many others -- also come with their own private armies: the interest groups that compose the money and manpower of today's Democratic Party. The American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and others on the anti-antiterror left want Mr. Obama to limit the surveillance and other tools that have prevented another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Defense will insist on onerous caps -- that is, taxes -- on coal and other carbon energy. Those won't help Mr. Obama carry Ohio and Indiana again in four years.
Today in Opinion Journal

TODAY'S COL

The trial bar wants an end to arbitration in disputes in return on its Senate investment, while the National Education Association will try to gut No Child Left Behind accountability standards. And organized labor will insist on a major push to pass "card check," which would end secret-ballot elections for unions. If Mr. Obama wants to mobilize the business community against him while squeezing moderate Democrats, he'll go along with that right from the start.

While many voters may think they've voted for "change" in Mr. Obama, they also handed power to the oldest forces in the Old Democratic Party. Jimmy Carter campaigned as a moderate and outsider, but Congressional liberals quickly ran his budget director, the economic centrist Bert Lance, out of town. Then they overrode Mr. Carter's veto of a pork-barrel water bill. Mr. Carter referred to the tax committees as "ravenous wolves" after they transformed his tax reform into a special-interest bouquet. Next came Reagan.

Bill Clinton also campaigned as a moderate, but in his first two years he was unable to govern as Congress pursued liberal priorities, including a big boost in taxes and spending. Recall Roberta Achtenberg as the scourge of the Boy Scouts and Joycelyn Elders calling for the legalization of drugs? Mr. Clinton chose -- or was forced -- to take up gun control and HillaryCare before welfare reform. Next came Newt Gingrich.

Maybe Mr. Obama has absorbed these lessons, but even if he has he'll have to be tough. The Great Society liberals who dominate Congress are old men in a hurry, and they'll run over the 47-year-old neophyte if he lets them.




Now that Barack Obama has vanquished John McCain, he faces a much greater foe: Democrats on Capitol Hill. They've humbled the last two Democratic Presidents -- and with their enhanced majorities next year, they'll be out to do it again.
[Review & Outlook] AP

Mr. Obama may appreciate the threat, because yesterday he offered Clinton White House veteran Rahm Emanuel a job as his chief of staff. But even that savvy, relatively sane liberal will have difficulties grappling with the fearsome committee chairmen and liberal interest groups that did so much to sabotage Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Meet the President-elect's real opposition:

David Obey. The Appropriations Chairman wants to slash defense spending as a money grab for more social programs and entitlements. Fellow spender Barney Frank recently added that a military budget cut of 25% was about right. A military crash diet wouldn't leave the funds for the surge in Afghanistan that Mr. Obama advocates, and it's a sure way to hand the national security issue back to the GOP.

Chuck Schumer. The Senate Democrat and his friends are already threatening banks if they don't lend more money instantly under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Other political masters want to use Tarp to nationalize large swaths of U.S. industry such as the Detroit auto makers or to bail out states like New York that are in debt. If Mr. Obama doesn't want to have to pass a Tarp II, he'll have to say no.

George Miller. Some Democrats are starting to target the tax subsidies for 401(k)s and other private retirement options. Mr. Miller, who heads the House Education and Labor Committee, calls them "a big failure" and recently held a hearing to ponder alternatives, including nationalizing pensions and replacing them with special bonds administered by Social Security. The proposal has also caught the eye of Jim McDermott, who chairs the relevant Ways and Means subcommittee. Mr. Obama won big with his promise of tax cuts for the middle class, which doesn't square with attacks on middle-class nest eggs.

John Conyers. The man running House Judiciary is cheerleading the Europeans who want to indict Bush officials for war crimes. Other Democrats are thinking about hearings and other show trials. This is far from the postpartisan reconciliation that Mr. Obama preaches.

Henry Waxman. With President Bush soon to be out of office, the Californian's team of Inspector Clouseaus at House Oversight won't have any "scandals" left to pursue. The word in Washington is that Mr. Waxman is looking to unseat John Dingell as Chairman of Energy and Commerce, in order to shove aside a global warming moderate. That could pave the way for huge new energy taxes. Voters will punish Mr. Obama if they get hammered every time they fill up the gas tank or buy groceries.

Pete Stark. The Chairman of a crucial House subcommittee dealing with health care doesn't think Mr. Obama's proposal to significantly federalize the insurance market goes far enough. He wants a single-payer system like Canada's. Mr. Obama may want to strike a deal with Senate Republicans on health care, but Mr. Stark will be pulling him left at every turn.

All of these feudal lords -- and many others -- also come with their own private armies: the interest groups that compose the money and manpower of today's Democratic Party. The American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and others on the anti-antiterror left want Mr. Obama to limit the surveillance and other tools that have prevented another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Defense will insist on onerous caps -- that is, taxes -- on coal and other carbon energy. Those won't help Mr. Obama carry Ohio and Indiana again in four years.

*
The trial bar wants an end to arbitration in disputes in return on its Senate investment, while the National Education Association will try to gut No Child Left Behind accountability standards. And organized labor will insist on a major push to pass "card check," which would end secret-ballot elections for unions. If Mr. Obama wants to mobilize the business community against him while squeezing moderate Democrats, he'll go along with that right from the start.

While many voters may think they've voted for "change" in Mr. Obama, they also handed power to the oldest forces in the Old Democratic Party. Jimmy Carter campaigned as a moderate and outsider, but Congressional liberals quickly ran his budget director, the economic centrist Bert Lance, out of town. Then they overrode Mr. Carter's veto of a pork-barrel water bill. Mr. Carter referred to the tax committees as "ravenous wolves" after they transformed his tax reform into a special-interest bouquet. Next came Reagan.

Bill Clinton also campaigned as a moderate, but in his first two years he was unable to govern as Congress pursued liberal priorities, including a big boost in taxes and spending. Recall Roberta Achtenberg as the scourge of the Boy Scouts and Joycelyn Elders calling for the legalization of drugs? Mr. Clinton chose -- or was forced -- to take up gun control and HillaryCare before welfare reform. Next came Newt Gingrich.

Maybe Mr. Obama has absorbed these lessons, but even if he has he'll have to be tough. The Great Society liberals who dominate Congress are old men in a hurry, and they'll run over the 47-year-old neophyte if he lets them.

What will be the fate of free market capitalism in America? Will the 2008 election look more like 1932 -- or 1992?

On both occasions, Republican presidents had abandoned their party's principles for bigger government policies that exacerbated difficult economic times. On both occasions, Democrats took control, largely hijacking the small-government, fiscally responsible rhetoric of their opponents. Of course, FDR's election ushered in the New Deal, the most dramatic expansion of government power in American history, together with policy changes and economic uncertainty that inhibited investment and growth and locked in massive unemployment for nearly a generation.

The official agenda of the incoming administration is not so different from FDR's. Whatever doubts remain about Mr. Obama's governing principles can be cleared up by looking at the governing philosophy of the Democrats in Congress he will be crafting legislation with or the liberal constituencies he is indebted to support. Democrats will not be ambiguous. They have every right to be energized, and will attempt sweeping changes to our economy and the very nature of the relationship between individual American citizens and the federal government.

Their wish list is long. Charlie Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has said he would like to redistribute a trillion dollars through the tax code, including massive tax hikes on capital accumulation and individual entrepreneurship. Labor unions want to take away the right of a worker to a secret ballot in organizing elections. Radical environmentalists demand strict curbs on energy production and use. Hillary Clinton may have lost the primary, but expect Democrats to push her favorite idea: government-run heath care.

Will Democratic overreach give the small-government movement the opportunity to reassert itself in the GOP? Former Congressman Dick Gephardt has warned President-elect Obama and the new Democratic majorities to be humble and measured. But with a legislative agenda driven by Nancy Pelosi, George Miller and Mr. Rangel, the temptations may be too great.

In 1992, Republican backbenchers including Newt Gingrich, myself, Bob Walker and John Boehner rose up to challenge the Clinton administration's agenda on taxes, spending and government-run health care. But before we could beat the Democrats, we had to beat the old bulls of our own party who had forgotten their principles and had become very comfortable as a complacent minority. We captured control of Congress in 1994 because we had confidence in our principles, and in the American people's willingness to understand and reward a national vision based on lower taxes, less government and more freedom.

That can happen again today -- but it will require a new generation of leadership, the sooner the better. Rest assured that the American people will show up for the fight.

Mr. Armey, U.S. House majority leader from 1995 to 2002, is chairman of FreedomWorks Foundation.

Vedad Ibisevic
Dongeng Indah Sang Pengungsi Perang

Sebelum Bundesliga dimulai, pasti banyak yang memperkirakan pemain bintang seperti Miroslav Klose, Luca Toni, atau Mario Gomez akan dengan mudah menguasai torjagerliste alias daftar pencetak gol. Namun, setelah 11 laga berselang, tengok daftar tersebut. Yang muncul justru pria asing bernama Vedad Ibisevic dengan koleksi 13 gol bersama Hoffenheim.

Vedad Ibisevic, ketajamannya mengangkat Hoffenheim. (Foto: Getty Images)

Torehan ini tentu sangat fenomenal mengingat musim lalu Ibisevic hanya mencetak 5 gol dalam 31 pertandingan di Divisi II Jerman.

Kondisi ini mengejutkan banyak pihak. Tidak hanya para pesaing, Ralph Rangnick, pelatih Hoffe, pun ikut terkesima melihat penampilan anak asuhannya itu. “Sangat menakjubkan melihat betapa mudahnya ia mencetak gol. Saya seperti membeli seorang pemain baru,” seru mantan pelatih Schalke itu.

Kemampuan untuk bangkit dari keterpurukan tampaknya berasal dari pengalaman hidupnya yang berat semasa kecil. Perang sipil yang terjadi di negaranya, Bosnia-Herzegovina, membuat Ibisevic kecil harus sering berpindah-pindah tempat dan terbiasa dalam situasi prihatin. Bahkan sang ayah, Saban, harus membawa keluarganya mengungsi ke luar negeri untuk mencari kehidupan lebih baik.

“Tentu terasa sangat berat karena tidak tahu negara macam apa yang akan kami singgahi. Tapi, saya tetap mendukung keputusan mereka karena tidak tahu pilihan lainnya,” kata Ibisevic pada STLtoday.

Hijrah ke Amerika

Setelah 10 bulan merasakan kehidupan di Swiss, sang ayah memutuskan untuk membawa keluarganya pindah ke Amerika Serikat pada 2001.

Sempat muncul kekhawatiran impiannya menjadi pesepakbola terancam. Wajar, AS bukan negara sepakbola. Tapi, siapa sangka justru di sana karier mengkilapnya dimulai.

Setelah bermain di beberapa high school club, pemuda yang ketika itu masih berusia 19 tahun ini mendapat sebuah beasiswa untuk kuliah di St Louis University (SLU)--salah satu perguruan tinggi yang memiliki program pembinaan sepakbola terbaik di AS-- karena kemampuannya bermain sepakbola.

Terbukti ia langsung melejit dengan membuat 18 gol dan 4 assist dalam 22 pertandingan bersama SLU dan terpilih sebagai Freshman of The Year 2003.

Penampilan seperti ini membuatnya terpantau oleh klub-klub Eropa. Adalah Vahid Halilhodzic yang pertama kali membawanya bermain di Eropa bersama PSG pada 2004. Kebetulan Vahid, yang juga senegara, melihat Vedad sedang berlatih bersama tim Bosnia U-21.

Sayang, debutnya di Benua Biru kurang mulus. Sang Internet junkie hanya bermain 4 kali sepanjang musim. Itulah kenapa PSG meminjamkannya ke Dijon di Ligue 2 sebelum dijual ke Alemannia Aachen.

Bakatnya sangat menonjol di klub Jerman itu. Sayang, ia mudah gugup sehingga kerap gagal mencetak gol. Hal serupa juga masih sering ia tunjukkan saat turun divisi dan pindah ke Hoffenheim 2007 silam.

Tapi sekarang semua telah berubah. Setelah membuat resolusi baru selama libur kompetisi lalu, fungsinya untuk mencetak gol telah kembali.

“Musim kemarin saya kehilangan rasa percaya diri karena sering gagal memanfaatkan peluang mudah. Tapi, sekarang saya telah kembali fokus dan akan memperlihatkan seluruh kemam-puan yang saya miliki,” ujar pria yang masih sering ke Amerika untuk mengunjungi orangtuanya ini.

Dengan kombinasi antara semangat baru dan bakat yang luar biasa, jangan heran jika sinar kekasih gadis Sarajevo bernama Zerina ini akan terus terang sepanjang musim. (cw-5)

DATA DIRI
---------------------------
Nama: Vedad Ibisevic
Tanggal Lahir: 6 Agustus 1984
Tempat Lahir: Vlasenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Postur: 189 cm/80 kg
Posisi: Striker

Karier Klub
Tim Junior
2000-2001 FC Basel
2003 St. Louis University
Tim Senior
2003 St Louis Strikers 22/18
2004 Chicago Fire Premier 3/3
2004-2005 PSG 4/0
2005-2006 Dijon (pinjaman) 33/10
2006-2007 Alemannia Aachen 24/6
2007-… 1899 Hoffenheim 42/18

Karier Timnas
2007-… Bosnia-Herzagovina 8/1

Music :

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