November 10, 2016

Don't Give Up



Puji Tuhan, walau belum menang (untuk ketiga kalinya! Ini masih sedikit lah...) DearReader Contest, bisa menang kuis yang diadakan oleh salah satu penulis undangan dari Suzanne Beecher di grup milis yang mengadakan kontes tersebut.

Awalnya, saya mengira tidak akan menang karena merasa bahasa Inggris (lagi-lagi) yang masih belum bagus serta materi yang saya sampaikan. Tapi, setelah mengirimkan tulisan untuk kuis oleh Paul Smith, ternyata saya menjadi salah satu pemenangnya. Berikut e-mail balasan dari Paul:

Franisz - I love your story! Thanks for sharing it. There are four free books to give away, and although you weren’t one of the first four to submit a request, you are one of the first four who actually included a story, which was part of the competition. Sooooooo, you are a WINNER! 

You’ll be getting a copy in the mail soon.

Enjoy!  If you like it, I’d love to get a review on Amazon here: Sell with a Story

And good luck with your stories!

Dan berikut tulisan yang saya kirim ke beliau.

***

Hi Paul,

My mom moved from her childhood
hometown village of Tongging near Lake Toba --the largest lake in this country--
in North Sumatera to a small, new, faraway city
of Surabaya in East Java back then in around 1980. The journey
took a week trip by a large ship.

She told me briefly that she took that faraway journey
--well, not too far to compare with Columbus' voyage
from Spain to the New World-- because she was mad at
(not yet my) dad back then. Leaving him alone in Medan, North Sumatera.
Upon arrival in Surabaya and stayed several months, she
wrote a letter to dad that if he wanted to be with her and marry her,
he should go to Surabaya, too, soon or else someone else
would propose her for a marriage.

Dad came to this City of Heroes --Surabaya, got its nickname
due to the bravery to fight the Dutch during their
colonial era-- in 1981, and got married with mom. Both of them
moved to a city near a beach, Tuban near the border between
two provinces of East Java and Central Java.

Long story short, mom got pregnant and I was born on February 1982.
Two years later, my sister Grace was born. In 1986, my second sister Agnes
was present in this earth. And my mom gave birth to my youngest brother Atlanta
in 1988. So, dad and mom were having four children. But for most of the time
back then when we we're little, only mom who took care of us and raised the four of us, while dad
had to work in the City of Heroes at a Coca Cola Bottling Company there.

Mom herself started her career to teach in a local school --I forgot in what grade, though--
and for some days she had to ask help from neighbors
to look after us her children.

Having raised among many brothers and sisters --perhaps around nine to ten siblings-- herself,
while dad also faced the same condition, perhaps they didn't
have any clue how to be good --if that's the exact word-- or great or perfect
parents.

But, mom, yes especially mom, never
gave up to always be there for us her children.
It's even amazing and could be called a miracle
that mom could pay our tuition so that four of us could
graduated from reputable universities (I graduated from Padjadjaran University,
my sisters and brother graduated from National University of Jember).
Many said that mom had struggled to provide everything
for us so that her children could get the proper education.

So, one among of many important lessons
I learned from my parent, especially my mom,
is to never give up. No matter what.

I'm married with two children --7 y.o cheerful little girl named Cherish Eleisha Chara Yefa,
and 7-month old strong baby boy named Jhesua Caleb Rapha Jefa-- now.
And my wife is an amazing woman, whom perhaps
inherited the fighting spirit of never giving up in life from my mom.
I'm --perhaps-- second to her. And I could
imagine how hard it must been for mom and dad
to raise us and provide for us as a family.

During the second US-presidential-debate
last Sunday night, October 9, 2016,
Mr. Trump said of Mrs. Hillary Clinton
that she's a fighter and doesn't give up.
O, how I recalled about my mother, too,
who was --and still-- a fighter, and never give up.

Thanks, Paul, for this opportunity
to tell a story.
I'm sorry for my poor English and improper grammar.
But, I don't give up.


***

Buku kiriman dari Paul.