Skip to main content

A Quote From JFK

"Tampaknya saya perlu menjelaskan sekali lagi, bahwa yang saya pentingkan bukan soal iman gereja apa yang saya yakini, karena hal itu hanya penting bagi diri saya sendiri, tetapi yang saya pentingkan adalah soal Amerika seperti yang saya yakini.

Saya percaya pada sebuah negara Amerika, yang melakukan pemisahan gereja dan negara menjadi sesuatu yang mutlak, yang tidak memungkinkan seorang imam Katolik mendikte presidennya --seandainya presiden itu seorang Katolik --tentang bagaimana harus bertindak. Dan tidak boleh ada seorang Pendeta Protestan pun yang akan memerintahkan jemaatnya untuk memilih calon yang ia pilih."

John F. Kennedy on Leadership, hal. 53-54
Oleh John A. Barnes

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

It’s Always God: Through Change and Growth

Unstoppable gratitude, these are the two words that define 2025, and probably 2026 and many years ahead. When I look back at early 2025, so many meaningful things happened. The second semester at UNHAN began. My children turned 10 and 8. We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary, and my husband and I both turned 37. Many beautiful moments filled our days. Besides the ups, we also faced some downs. As a couple, we learned how to reconcile and find our rhythm again. We are constantly learning to manage our shortcomings so that the system we have built—our family—can keep working and growing. The second half of 2025 brought quite drastic changes. My husband moved to a different division at work, and we moved into our panggon , our new home in Halim Perdanakusuma. Our children advanced to years 5 and 3. I was no longer in my second semester at UNHAN, but I was trusted to serve as a Master of Ceremony and moderator for several UNHAN events. I also traveled to Pontianak for a few days with ...

The House That Carried Us Forward

I don’t think I’ve ever written about the government housing provided by the Air Force where we’re currently living. We’ve been here for almost half a year now—since June, to be exact. I still remember the day we left Malang for Jakarta: the kids and I ended up crying together. Strangely enough, that move also happened in December, as if the month itself always carries a bittersweet turning of seasons for our family. But life moves forward, and so must we. Our first home in Jakarta was in Lubang Buaya—a small house, roughly 108 square metres, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. My mother-in-law had lived there ever since I married her son in 2014. My husband and I bought the house using a mix of our parents’ support. Technically, we still owe my parents the remaining balance. Lol. After living in Jakarta for about two and a half years, we decided to move into what we call the Panggon , or rumah dinas—a service house provided by TNI AU. Since it isn’t a Rumah Jabatan < Official Re...

Pilih(an)

Konon, menulis jurnal adalah bagian dari proses penyembuhan. Saya mengangguk setuju. Menulis jurnal , bukan menumpahkan emosi lewat status WhatsApp sambil berharap semesta ikut marah hanya karena hati kita sedang seret. Ada jurang lebar antara refleksi batin dan pamer luka di ruang publik, meski banyak yang mengacaukannya. Awalnya saya enggan menyinggung hal ini. Namun, hidup sering bercanda—niat saya membahas hal lain langsung terpelintir hanya karena saya menanggapi sebuah status WA. Rupanya respons saya tidak bertaut dengan ekspektasinya. Jadilah ia bereaksi—riuh, garang, seperti hendak menerkam sesuatu yang bahkan bukan ancaman. Saya hanya tersenyum tipis. Mungkin saya memang salah frekuensi. Ternyata, memberi perhatian pun bisa dianggap provokasi oleh orang yang sedang tidak selaras gelombang batinnya. Dan ya, mungkin energi saya sedang terlalu lincah; spontanitas saya memercik, lalu memicu dinamika yang membuat saya menghela napas dan membatin, “Ya ampun… ups .” Saya tak henda...