Beneath the Number Four (English)

Four is just a number four is just a number four is just a number.

Since 9^th grade, the number four have been so influential for me. The number often made me remember all life lessons I have got throughout my life. Sometimes I feel like that number is encouraging me to do brave things, but other times I feel like the number is killing me softly with its sharp angles and edges.

In a group of all one-digit numbers, four is one of the numbers which is commonly used in the world. Think about it. In music, you generally count from one to four. GPA is scaled from zero to four. Even the word four itself has four letters. What else? Fantastic Four? I am Number Four? Four from Divergent Series? The number four is indeed fantastic, at least for me. Luckily we don’t have four fingers for each hand, eh?

But, is it okay for a number to be so influential in someone’s life? Probably.

I should start off by letting you know who are the persons I address as “Four”, because it’d be quite long of a story. I had to repeat the phrase four is just a number while I write this so please tolerate my silliness of being influented by the result of two plus two.

There is a friend in my school which I address as “Four” because a friend of mine wrote a novel about dauntless bravery and impeccable psychopathy, and she based the character “Four” with this guy. He’s kind of the perfect guy for all girls. The prince. The kind of guy I would envy on (if not everyone). I’ll tell you about him later.

And then there is this Four from Divergent series, which I sometimes fantasize as my friend from school. This sounds stupid, but both Fours are equally influential in a way.

There is this sport called basketball which I almost refuse to join before 9^th grader, but I did anyway. (Luckily a ball doesn’t have four sides) Now, as I’m graduating to 10^th grade, I kind of lost hope in basketball because I’m not dexterous enough. My friends like to say that it’s a waste of time for me to watch basketball because I can’t play it right. I was extremely sad and angry at the same time.

Then this guy called Four came. He’s so kind that I’d envy his kindness while being skillful at a number of sports. He encouraged me to never give up at all things, including basketball – the sport I love most, yet the one I hate most. After months of not playing basketball, I decided to play with him. My old friends became vain and I didn’t want to play with them, because I’m not as good as them and I fear they would humiliate me. Four isn’t as good as them but twice as kind, so I choose to have a kind teacher rather than a qualified one.

So there you go, my basketball story. A story involving friendship and allegiance.

Four in the novel is so different. I think I’m not the bravest of my friends, but Four in Divergent have changed me mentally. He indirectly taught me to be brave and take options, like what his girlfriend does. Tris is supposed to influent me more here, but I don’t know. I like Four more.

Having ONLY four fears would be awesome. I thought I had a hundred of them when I actually had only seven. One of the most valuable lessons Four taught me is that being fearless is not the point, it’s overcoming your fear and being free from it. That’s my favorite one as my father often says to me, his son (who is scared of insects) to be fearless.

Nobody’s perfect, so I think nobody is purely fearless.

Sorry for you non-Divergent fans, but I often claim that I am a member of the Dauntless faction, that I have dauntless bravery. I also fantasize what would happen if Tobias Eaton is real, which sadly is false. But that’s not the point.

Back to the basketball story. I’m still not so skilled at basketball. 10^th grade is coming fast and I have to choose between attending basketball extracurricular or not.

The question is : Do I have enough bravery for that?

Do I have that dauntless bravery?

Yes.

My Opinion on Generation Z and the Internet

Hai! Salam kenal!

Saya adalah seorang manusia dari generasi Z. 
Generasi yang paling sering dijelek-jelekkan oleh media massa.
Kecanduan teknologi. Lupa waktu. Lupa dunia. Lupa segalanya.

Benarkah? Benarkah begitu?

Tidak (sepenuhnya) benar.

Beberapa dari kami memang sangat menyukai teknologi, namun, jika kita pikirkan lagi, jika saja teknologi seperti handphone, tablet, dan semacamnya itu sudah ada di tahun 1980an, bukankah efeknya juga akan sama? Manusia tahun 1980an pasti akan sama seperti kami, jika teknologi tersebut keluar di tahun 1980an.

Mungkin memang iya, beberapa dari kami sudah kecanduan teknologi, namun tidak semuanya. Menurut saya, massa terlalu mendeskripsikan generasi Z sebagai generasi yang menyalahgunakan teknologi, seolah-olah semua orang dari generasi Z melakukan itu. Tidak.

Memangnya semua orang Islam teroris? Tidak.
Memangnya semua orang hitam miskin? Tidak.
Semua hanya stereotip saja. Melihat sesuatu yang besar dari sesuatu yang kecil. Lebih parah lagi, melihat hal kecil yang negatif. Wah!

Tidak bisa disimpukan bahwa satu-satunya hal yang kita buka dalam internet adalah hal-hal negatif. Malah, menurut saya, anak-anak usia sekolahan pasti cukup sering mengakses internet untuk membuka materi pelajaran. Apakah itu penyalahgunaan internet? Apalagi setelah diterapkannya Kurikulum 2013 yang mewajibkan para siswa mencari tahu sendiri mengenai materi yang sedang dipelajar.

Kami juga dapat meraih prestasi mengenai pengetahuan-pengetahuan yang diperoleh melalui internet. Semua orang dapat meraih prestasi melalui pengetahuan yang tersebar di internet. Berguna sekali, bukan?
 
Internet sangat berguna juga untuk mencari tahu informasi mengenai sarana pendidikan yang akan kita tuju di masa depan. Mengapa banyak sekali yang terlalu menjelek-jelekkan internet? Lagi pula, menjelek-jelekkan internet di internet sendiri juga merupakan suatu tindakan yang menurunkan kualitas konten internet.

Internet tidak seburuk itu.

Jadi, mengapa harus membenci internet secara berlebihan? Pasti kita pernah menggunakan internet minimal sekali. Menurut saya, Generasi Z juga hanya memanfaatkan apa yang bisa dimanfaatkan, walaupun mungkin terkadang kami melakukannya dengan cara yang salah dan tak bertanggung jawab.

Memang, seharusnya kami juga menggunakan internet dengan lebih bertanggung jawab lagi. Saya secara pribadi juga setuju dengan hal itu.

Sekian opini saya, mohon maaf jika ada yang tersinggung.

Terima kasih untuk membaca!

[P.S. : Baca cerita buatan saya di Wattpad : realtheodorejonathan dengan judul cerita "Five". Dijamin tegang dan penasaran.]