In 2015, I was so fortunate to meet an osteosarcoma patient, Junaidi. He was 16/17 years old at that moment. After discussing about life and his dream in a hospital, later he sent me this picture via WhatsApp. I always wondered after that experience, who was here the patient? Why was he the one who gave me life advice? Shouldn't it have been me? Then I realized, that sometimes the one who lost so much, are the ones who can give so much.

Junaidi passed away several months later, only days before he could even try his new prosthetic. However, his lesson of kindness will be with me forever.

Aku kelingan terus ngendikane Ibuku mbiyen babagan sinau. Pas aku raiso nglakoni sesuatu, Ibuku mundhut priksa, "Nek raiso ki njuk piye?", bar kuwi Ibu maringi priksa, "Yo sinau. Diunekke bodho yo ben". Tak pikir-pikir yo bener pancenan; wong ki nek raiso yo kudu sinau, kudu wani isin babagan iki. Nek jarene wong bule yo "Swallow your pride!" Nah, akhir-akhir iki jan aku babak bundhas sinau beberapa hal sing kudune aku wes iso ket biyen. 

With the rise of the social medias in our lives, comparing ourselves to other people is I guess a natural thing. I even often compared myself to models like Gigi Hadid and Behati Prinsloo and then became so desperate that maybe only in my wildest dreams that I can have the abs and the body height that they do. At nights I can be very depressed that I wasn't as bright as MIT graduates. The more sickening thing was comparing myself with apparently-blessed-with-everything people who are at once smart, beautiful, rich, can sing, kind, etc. It's bizarre because now we can compare ourselves to anyone, far beyond our friendship or neighborhood circles as people did in the past. It's also a paradox because it's now easy for us to compare, but altogether is very hard for our mental.