Understanding Lies (Inspired from Patrick Jane's quotes)

Who are the cleverest liars? My best answer is actors. They are the masterminds of lying. We also know that they lie in front of us (on tv, in movie, or on stage) while we are watching them. We enjoy watching them lying in front of us and they enjoy doing that. Of course they have to enjoy doing that because they get paid for that. They lie to make a living. So, big thanks to those clever liars (or actors) for their efforts to give us some life lessons from the movies they play.

Being inspired also from "The Mentalist" tv series, I quoted some of Patrick Jane's words when he talked about lies. I caught 3 interesting quotes about lies from him.

Good, honest people are always bad liars. (Season 4, Episode 2: Little Red Book)

That's true. Maybe it's because they cannot fake their body language. When they are telling a lie, maybe their eyes aren't brave enough to make contact with the listener's eyes. Or maybe, their hand suddenly touches their face areas. That shows their being nervous; because they are really nervous in front of the listener, or because they feel so uncomfortable and scared for telling a lie that much blood flows up to their face areas, causing some itchy effects on their face. It means that they still have their conscience. That good conscience helps their body to protest. Their body wants to notify the listener that the words coming out from the speaker's mouth are a bunch of lies. And fortunately there are still many people in this world who are bad at lying.

It's hard to lie when you are thinking about something else. (Season 1, Episode 18: Aingavite Baa)
When you are thinking about something, your focus is on that thing. Your brain is very focused. Then if suddenly somebody gives you a question that you know the answer, you will automatically answer that without hesitation. There isn't any chance for you to be "creative" in giving an answer that is not the real answer. If you still want to lie, you need a much longer pause than usual to answer because thinking about that lie needs hard work.

Tests can be fooled; human behaviour never lies. (Season 4, Episode 4: Ring around the Rosie)
Doing any test is easy if you know the answer. Furthermore, if the test is only asking about your habit, your preference, your history, and your anything else, you can finish the test very quickly. And, you can also give wrong answers very easily and quickly too. You give wrong answers because you don't want to be honest and you just want to fool the test and the persons who give you the test. However, the way you behave will reveal who you really are; totally different from the result of the test. For instance, you say in the test that you are careful in handling your money. But in reality, many people know that you are very addicted to shopping. You say in the test that you are a bird lover. But in reality, you love to shoot wild birds for pleasure.

So, how long are you going to be able to lie? The longer you "train" yourself to tell lies, the better you will be at becoming an actor. You will never be able to enjoy the real life.

How to have a peaceful life (Inspired from Patrick Jane's quotes)

I've always loved watching "The Mentalist" series. Every single episode from 7 seasons is never disappointing. I love the main characters there: Teresa Lisbon, Patrick Jane, Kimball Cho, Wayne Rigsby, and Grace Van Pelt.

My focus here is not about what "The Mentalist" is about. If you want to know what it is about, you can just watch from HOOQ or TV or others. It's much more fun to watch than to tell. My focus is about some quotes that I get from Patrick Jane, the mentalist.

Some quotes are funny and informative, some others are annoyingly true. But at least, those quotes make me think.

Like this quote: "If you stop seeing the world in terms of what you like and what you dislike and see things for what they truly are in themselves, you will find a great deal more peace in your life." (Season 2 Episode 6: Black Gold and Red Blood)

What Patrick Jane says is so true. If we often talk about what we like,  other things we don't talk about are ignored. The truth is, there is always something likable from anything. Let's say you dislike snakes because you are afraid of them. How unpeaceful your life is everytime you run into snakes. You worry about being bitten, you worry you cannot find them if they enter your house, you worry that you will die because of the poison, and so many other worries. But if you look closely at their face, they are undoubtedly pretty. And also, if you think what they think when they meet you, you will realize that they think you will kill him. So, to get peace when you meet a snake, just think as it is. It is an animal which needs food and shelter, and they belong to the universe. So do you.

Or this quote:  "Being sorry is far worse punishment than being dead. Everybody dies. Very few people ever feel truly sorry for the bad things they've done." (Season 1 Episode 2: Red Hair and Silver Tape)

When it comes to talking about crimes and punishments, the most heinous crimes deserve death penalty. But according to Patrick Jane, being dead is not scary for heinous criminals because all people will die sooner or later. It feels much heavier for us if we are guilty and we really regret doing that. Living with having regret and feeling sorry will really punish us. And not many people can live that life.

Or this quote: "People trapped in miserable lives always talk about escaping. Few actually do it. It's easier just to close your eyes and pretend the misery doesn't exist."  (Season 2 Episode 4: Red Menace)

Who never has problems in life? Nobody. When our life is in misery, we really want to run away from it. Stay far far away from that misery. But we can't. (Well, some of us do run away from that misery). So it really ruins our days.  We will be in a bad mood, look sad, angry, depressed, and empty. Therefore Patrick Jane advises us to close our eyes for a moment to ask our brain to be able to pretend that the misery is not there with us. Then when we open our eyes, we will feel a little lighter because we take a deep breath and create a smile.

Enjoy the moment

Have you been in the moment like in the picture? You are sitting down enjoying the morning air and your pets are accompanying you, enjoying the moment, too?

Just look at those two cats. From looking at their faces, do they look worried about what to eat tonight? Do they show anger because of thinking about their cat enemies? I don't think so. They are just savouring the moment. They are looking at the thing they see without thinking about what to do with the thing. Are they peaceful? Yes. Are they happy? Maybe.

It's common that we have many happy moments in our life. It's also common that we get a happy feeling being in those moments.

However, not all happy moments can make everybody involved feel happy about those moments. I'm not talking about people who get jealous in those happy moments. Let's just put aside those toxic people. I'm talking about those whose mind is not in those moments, thinking about something else.

If their mind is in those moments, I'm sure they will join the happiness. But if they let their mind wander, they will seem like the people who don't belong to the group. Their body is there, but their mind travels somewhere else.

The key is just one: be in the moment. If you open your window when you get up in the morning, inhale the morning air that comes to your face. Never think about something. Just breathe. If you are nervous because you will give an important presentation, embrace the moment of your being nervous. Don't deny it. If you deny it, it means that you are worried about the audience's response. It means that you are thinking about something else.

So, when my cats roll their bodies on the dirty ground, they are enjoying the warm dirt on their bodies and I am enjoying looking at them. When my cats sit and relax with me, I savour the moment looking at everything they do, without letting my mind be busy thinking about something else.

The Sound of the Surroundings

Have we ever noticed the sounds around us? And if we have, have we ever enjoyed them? If yes, are those sounds all types or specific?

Thanks to our ears for their ability to pay attention to our surroundings. They do their function at their maximum. They can also give signals to us about what types of sounds we can enjoy.

Any daily sound that comes from nature is absolutely enjoyable. Who cannot enjoy the sound of the leaves played by the wind? Who hates the chirping of birds on the trees? Who is afraid of the sound of the pouring rain? Nobody, I think and I hope.

I need to focus on one type of sound, that is baby chick's voice. Try to enjoy its voice when it is under its mom. Its positive emotion of feeling warm under its mom sends a soothing sound to our ears.

It will be different if that baby chick looks for its mom. Its voice will be very loud because there is an emotion there; an emotion of feeling scared of not finding its mom. That baby chick's voice will give signal to our ears that it needs help. Is that kind of sound disturbing us? I don't think so; it is just affecting our emotion and reaction about what to do.

However, if we sometimes feel disturbed with some certain sounds, it is because the emotions causing that sound are uncontrolable. Just imagine when we hear the crowd of women waiting in line for a sale. The sound will unbearably hurt our ears because of those women's desire and anger to get the products on sale.

How will our ears feel when hearing many people working in front of their computer, typing onto their keyboard loudly and powerfully? Just enjoy it, because it is the music of the surrounding.

I am not a fan or a hater.

It's going to be an election day on April 17, 2019 here in Indonesia. The candidates are promoting themselves. The many parties are showing pictures of handsome men and pretty ladies with some sweet promises for the legislative positions. The two candidate presidents are busy winning the people's hearts.

What happens to the voters? Well, some are calm and some others are having conflicts. The conflicts are varied, such as destroying party billboards, hoaxes, or family dispute.

How come a family dispute happens? Well, if you become a fan of something or someone, you will hate other persons who don't like the one that you're a fan of. And if those other persons happen to be the members of your family, you will be ready to have a conflict with them if you are too stubborn and if they are too stubborn, too.

For me, there's nothing wrong with liking a public figure (a president, a minister, a singer, a k-pop band, etc.). There is also nothing wrong with loving to watch a show (a soap opera, a movie, a sport event, etc.). However, if you like that too much till you become obsessed with that, you will always underestimate other people's taste.

I'll gave an example. If you are a fan of Agnez Mo and you are obsessed with her, you will perhaps hate other persons who idolize Anggun and not Agnez Mo. Or the other way around.

Please understand that both of them are still humans. They make mistakes. So, what will you get if you idolize humans? Disappointment, I guess. Then why should you have conflicts with those who are not a fan? Let's consider that Anggun and Agnez Mo know that some conflicts happen among fans. Will they care? Well, maybe, but not much. Maybe they will just write one sentence or two on their social media accounts about those fans' conflicts.

Therefore, I never try to become a fan of some celebrities, politicians, or music genres. If they are entertaining, I will be ready to enjoy. If they are inspiring, my life will be more meaningful. But if I have to choose between the two public figures who are so obsessed about winning, I need to go back to my own thinking that they are still humans. They make mistakes.

Penjara Semakin Sesak

Setiap hari stasiun TV lokal dan nasional menyajikan berita kriminal. Dari jenis kriminal kelas kakap sampai dengan kelas teri, pasti sering diberitakan. Ada pelaku kriminal yang tertangkap, ada pula yang masih bebas berkeliaran. Yang masih bebas berkeliaran bisa jadi karena mereka bersembunyi di hutan belantara, atau bahkan bersembunyi di belakang tangan penguasa. Yang berhasil ditangkap pastilah dimasukkan ke penjara.

Walhasil, penjara semakin penuh sesak. Apalagi dengan adanya kamar penjara yang eksklusif bertaraf kamar hotel berbintang. Pasti akan memakan ukuran ruang kamar penjara. Kamar penjara eksklusif yang secara ukuran seharusnya bisa ditempati untuk 6 orang misalnya, namun hanya satu orang yang 'menguasainya'. Semua itu karena uang dan kekuasaan yang berbicara.

Pemerintah mestinya sudah menyadari kebutuhan untuk menambah jumlah lembaga pemasyarakatan (lapas), atau minimal membeli tanah di sekitar lapas yang kamarnya sudah penuh sesak untuk memperluas bangunannya. Pemerintah juga pasti sudah menganggarkan dana untuk keperluan makan minum para tahanan itu. Belum lagi dana operasional lainnya untuk kegiatan di lapas tersebut (gaji pegawai, rekrutmen pegawai baru, acara rutin lapas, dan lain-lain).

Namun apakah sudah disadari bahwa nantinya cepat atau lambat pemerintah akan merasa kesulitan untuk memenuhi anggaran lapas yang semakin membengkak? Semakin banyak pelaku kriminal yang perlu dimasukkan ke lapas. Memang ada juga yang bebas, namun jika dilihat dari intensitas berita kriminal yang ada di televisi, sepertinya lebih banyak yang masuk ke lapas daripada yang bebas.

Bagaimana jika jenis hukuman ditentukan berdasarkan jenis kejahatannya dan motif kriminalnya?

Misalnya, jenis kejahatan korupsi pastilah motifnya adalah untuk memperkaya diri. Tidak usah dimasukkan ke penjara. Langsung saja dia, saudara-saudara kandungnya, dan keluarganya dimiskinkan oleh negara. Tidak peduli apakah harta yang dirampas oleh negara itu adalah hasil korupsi dia atau harta warisan. Rampas semuanya. Tidak perlu dipenjara.

Contoh lain, bandar narkoba. Dia juga punya motif ingin kaya karena memang harganya selangit. Selain itu, sepertinya dia punya motif ingin merusak generasi bangsa. Tidak usah dipenjara terlalu lama. Hukum saja dia dengan memberi dia banyak asupan narkoba yang dia edarkan.

Hukuman seperti itu bukan penyiksaan. Ini logikanya seperti penjual bakso yang untuk makan siangnya penjual bakso itu, dia memakan hidangan baksonya. Wajar bukan? Nah, si bandar narkoba itu 'menikmati' sarapan, makan siang, makan malam, dan cemilan malam berupa narkoba sebagai menu utama. Cepat atau lambat dia akan muak atau bahkan meninggal karena overdosis. Ingat! Ini bukan penyiksaan. Ini seperti orang yang terlalu suka yang manis-manis sampai akhirnya dia terkena penyakit diabetes dan akhirnya meninggal.

Hukuman untuk pembunuh kejam dan sadis juga tidak perlu dimasukkan ke penjara. Jangan-jangan nanti di penjara dia tambah bernafsu ingin membunuh lebih banyak lagi. Kirim saja dia ke pulau tidak berpenghuni dan jauh dari pulau-pulau yang lain. Tidak perlu dibangunkan fasilitas apapun di pulau itu. Biarkan dia bertahan hidup di pulau itu seperti di adegan film Cast Away. Kalau dia nekat berenang mencari pertolongan, harusnya susah karena pemerintah pastilah mengandalkan armada pengamanan lautnya yang hebat.

Nah, untuk pelaku kriminal kelas teri sekelas maling ayam, maling kayu bakar di hutan milik tetangga, pemain judi sabung ayam, mereka sepertinya lebih layak untuk dimasukkan ke lapas karena mestinya lebih gampang untuk membina dan memperbaiki rohani mereka. Masih ada kemungkinan yang sangat besar untuk kembali menjadi anggota masyarakat yang tidak meresahkan. Lagi pula, mereka tidak perlu terlalu lama menghuni lapas. Jadi iritlah pengeluaran negara.

(Tulisan ini diilhami oleh jadwal berita kriminal yang setiap hari tayang dan berita tentang kaburnya banyak narapidana dari lapas.)