Why me?

Pernah nggak kepikiran buat nanya, "Kenapa gue?" waktu lagi seneng, atau waktu bisa ngerasain santai akhir pekan? Ketika lagi suasana senang, jarang kepikiran buat bertanya, "Kenapa aku sih yang mengalami kesenangan ini? Kenapa kok bukan orang lain?"

Menyikapi Perbedaan Hari Raya: Awal Bulan Ramadhan 1433 H

"Sebetulnya, kapan sih kita harus mulai berpuasa Ramadhan tahun ini?"

"Kenapa sih musti beda-beda? Bikin bingung masyarakat aja deh."

"Hari Jumat atau hari Sabtu nih kita mulai puasa?"

"Tanggal 20 Juli atau 21 Juli ya, mulai puasa?"

Kegiatan Rukyah atau mengamati penampakan hilal muda merupakan bagian dari sistem kalender Hijriah. Hasil rukyah sangat tergantung kepada kondisi lokal di mana kegiatan rukyah dilaksanakan. Berbagai faktor yang mempengaruhi hasil rukyah antara lain:

• Koordinat Lintang dan Bujur lokasi pengamatan; Faktor ini berpengaruh kepada seberapa dekat posisi Hilal dengan lingkaran matahari pada saat matahari terbenam.
• Ketinggian lokasi pengamatan dari atas permukaan laut; Semakin tinggi lokasi pengamatan, kemungkinan terlihatnya Hilal semakin besar.
• Kondisi cuaca pada saat dilakukan pengamatan; Keadaan cuaca berawan atau hujan memberikan hasil yang berbeda jika keadaan langit cerah.
• Kondisi polusi di lokasi pengamatan; Tempat yang tingkat polusinya tinggi akan memperbesar tingkat kesulitan mengamati hilal karena tebalnya asap polusi.

Di antara keempat faktor tersebut di atas, koordinat Lintang dan Bujur suatu tempat sering dijadikan sebagai patokan bagi pengamat lain. Misalnya, untuk lokasi kota Jakarta koordinat Lintang dan Bujur di antara beberapa koordinat yang sering dijadikan acuan, koordinat 6°10' S 106°49' E digunakan antara lain oleh komunitas Rukyatul Hilal Indonesia.

Sebuah pertanyaan menarik muncul: Sebetulnya, di manakah tepatnya lokasi koordinat 6°10' S 106°49' E itu? Dengan bantuan Google Maps, didapatkan informasi seperti peta di bawah ini (ditandai dengan panah warna hijau). Lokasi 'terdekat' yang di-retrieve oleh Google Maps adalah sebuah nama jalan di Jakarta, Jalan Petojo Binatu 1.

Apakah ada di antara anda yang mengetahui persisnya gedung atau rumah siapakah gerangan yang ditunjukkan dalam peta?

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About Time to Excel in Life

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the musical genius, once wrote to his friend,

“People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not industriously studied through many times.”

By the time he was twenty-eight years old, his hands were deformed badly because of so many hours he had spent practicing, performing, and gripping a quill pen to compose his extraordinary music.

There is no such a thing such as 'natural geniuses'. All those extraordinary things happened in human history takes time to achieve. Mention great names you have in mind, and read their biography, and learn what they did in their life. They devoted their life to whatever they are mastering. And when people talk about life, implicitly they talk about time, because life is about time.

Some people think the result will come instantly. They read one great book, and they think tomorrow they will get the 'big result'. It simply cannot happen.

Read many books, write many pages. Do many small errors, and learn from them. Be patient and be consistent. Don't give up because of those errors. And don't give up because the result seem so far away or so high to reach. Be confident and be patient to take a ladder a day, by the end of the week you will stepped seven ladders. And if you pay enough attention to the process of doing it, by the end of the year, you are 365 ladders higher than those people who are expecting instant results.

Patience is not the same as not doing anything. Patience is about put your faith about the end result, however long it will take to get there. Patience is about taking those ladders every day. Do something every day, whatever it is you can do. Take that one ladder today to make you higher than anyone else.

Time to excel in anything, takes time, endurance, and patience.