…Paulo Coelho…
Sudah sejak 3-4 tahun yang lalu saya diberi tahu bahwa ada seorang penulis yang namanya Paulo Coelho. Salah satu bukunya sudah saya baca habis: Veronika Decides to Die. Tapi saya ngga ngerti apa poinnya. Terus ada lagi The Zahir. Seorang sahabat baik yang memberikan buku itu ke saya, tapi saya malah tidak sanggup menyelesaikannya karena nggak ngerti. Seolah tidak kapok, beberapa bulan yang lalu saya beli bukunya Coelho yang lain: The Witch of Portobello. Buku yang ini menarik, dengan gaya penyajian yang unik dan sudut pandang yang "nyeleneh". Tapi saya belum juga selesai membacanya karena keburu dipinjam. Yang minjam waktu itu adalah orang yang pingin saya gaet hatinya, jadi ya saya kasih pinjam itu buku walaupun belum selesai dibaca.
Sampai saat itu saya belum benar-benar terpukau oleh seorang Coelho. Saya tahu buku The Alchemist pernah booming dan menjadi bestseller worldwide. Tapi saya kurang tertantang buat mengambil jalan yang sudah banyak diambil orang. Tibalah dua hari yang lalu, saat saya mau berangkat ke offshore. Di airport, di toko buku kecilnya, ada satu buku Coelho yang lain. Tinggal satu buah: Like The Flowing River. Yang ini ternyata bukan novel, melainkan kompilasi tulisan pendek Coelho yang kebanyakan adalah insights beliau selama perjalanan hidupnya. Yang membuat menarik adalah saya ngga harus baca buku ini berurut dari depan ke belakang. Bisa tinggal buka sembarangan, nemu judul yang menarik, baca, resapi, dan selesai. Palingan panjang satu artikelnya adalah 1-5 halaman. Jadi saya bisa main "roulette" dengan buku ini.
Saya tertarik dengan Coelho karena di buku ini beliau menampilkan dirinya, pikirannya, pengertiannya, pengalamannya dengan terbuka. It is always interesting untuk melihat seorang yang begitu terbuka dan tidak takut terluka oleh respons orang lain, di mana respons itu mungkin tidak seperti apa yang dikehendakinya.
Karena tertarik untuk mengenal lebih jauh lagi tentang Paulo Coelho, saya kunjungi websitenya. Di sana ada satu artikel yang langsung memenangkan hati ini, karena isinya begitu renyah, tidak tersangkal, cerdas, dan pokoknya saya suka. Berikut adalah copy-paste dari website beliau. (http://www.warriorofthelight.com/engl/index.html)
Convention of those wounded in love
General provisions:
A – Whereas the saying “all is fair in love and war” is absolutely correct;
B – Whereas for war we have the Geneva Convention, approved on 22 August 1864, which provides for those wounded in the battle field, but until now no convention has been signed concerning those wounded in love, who are far greater in number;
It is hereby decreed that:
Article 1 – All lovers, of any sex, are alerted that love, besides being a blessing, is also something extremely dangerous, unpredictable and capable of causing serious damage. Consequently, anyone planning to love should be aware that they are exposing their body and soul to various types of wounds, and that they shall not be able to blame their partner at any moment, since the risk is the same for both.
Article 2 – Once struck by a stray arrow fired from Cupid’s bow, they should immediately ask the archer to shoot the same arrow in the opposite direction, so as not to be afflicted by the wound known as “unrequited love”. Should Cupid refuse to perform such a gesture, the Convention now being promulgated demands that the wounded partner remove the arrow from his/her heart and throw it in the garbage. In order to guarantee this, those concerned should avoid telephone calls, messages over the Internet, sending flowers that are always returned, or each and every means of seduction, since these may yield results in the short run but always end up wrong after a while. The Convention decrees that the wounded person should immediately seek the company of other people and try to control the obsessive thought: “this person is worth fighting for”.
Article 3 – If the wound is caused by third parties, in other words if the loved one has become interested in someone not in the script previously drafted, vengeance is expressly forbidden. In this case, it is allowed to use tears until the eyes dry up, to punch walls or pillows, to insult the ex-partner in conversations with friends, to allege his/her complete lack of taste, but without offending their honor. The Convention determines that the rule contained in Article 2 be applied: seek the company of other persons, preferably in places different from those frequented by the other party.
Article 4 – In the case of light wounds, herein classified as small treacheries, fulminating passions that are short-lived, passing sexual disinterest, the medicine called Pardon should be applied generously and quickly. Once this medicine has been applied, one should never reconsider one’s decision, not even once, and the theme must be completely forgotten and never used as an argument in a fight or in a moment of hatred.
Article 5 – In all definitive wounds, also known as “breaking up”, the only medicine capable of having an effect is called Time. It is no use seeking consolation from fortune-tellers (who always say that the lost lover will return), romantic books (which always have a happy ending), soap-operas on the television or other such things. One should suffer intensely, completely avoiding drugs, tranquilizers and praying to saints. Alcohol is only tolerated if kept to a maximum of two glasses of wine a day.
Final determination: Those wounded in love, unlike those wounded in armed conflict, are neither victims nor torturers. They chose something that is part of life, and so they have to accept both the agony and the ecstasy of their choice.
And those who have never been wounded in love will never be able to say: “I have lived”. Because they haven’t.
