Fresh Wind & Green Grass

We all have one little dream in our brain that we know it's just too silly to hope comes true one day, and we always keep trying to get rid of this dream. Over time, we live our day-to-day life trying to forget this dream. But it does cross our mind again when we're alone - particularly when we just woke up but need a few seconds to start the day or when the night comes, and we're too lazy to shut our eyes to bed. This happens for days, months, and even - years.

First Gathering with Another Psychology UI Alumna in 2019 ©Alleyway Café

When my boyfriend told me that the first person known in history who might put the fundamentals of evolution was an Arabic scholar, I purchased a book written by Jim Al-Khalili titled "Pathfinders - The Golden Age of Arabic Science". The book contains a story about Abū ʿUthman ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-Kinānī al-Baṣrī, the one who wrote a lengthy book about animals. Known by his short name Al-Jāhiz/ Al-Jāhith, he wrote an original idea on how he observed some animals sharing similar characteristics and features, such as dogs, wolves, and foxes, must have a similar line of ancestry. Other scholars were underrated in the Eurocentric academia era: Al-Khwārizmi (from whom the "algorithm" word is derived), who produced Kitab Al-Jebr and was a respected mathematician, Al-Ma'mūn who ordered the excavation of the Great Pyramid of Khufu - to help his curiosity exploring the civilization of pharaohs long before Islam arrived, Abbās ibn Firnās the world's first aviator, or Omar Khayyām - Abbāsid scholar, a poet and a great mathematician whose greatest contribution on cubic equation (and was likely an agnostic Muslim). 

But it came to my surprise that science was developed vastly by some big Muslim scholars in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. We know how Iraq's image nowadays - and it is far from science. There was a movement of rationalist Muslims called Mu'tazili, but then got backlash from conservative Muslims who -according to Al-Khalili, holds certain anti-scientific attitudes that have held back technological, economic, and social progress in many Muslim countries. The final chapter of the book was even astonishing for me, as Al-Khalili being an atheist himself, noted how Eurocentric scholars and science should put more light on these forgotten people who inspired West scholars at the beginning. They also, in fact, had good correspondence with the West world. There is no big finding without small steps at the outset.

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Forgotten people are everywhere. I currently have ongoing research with my office in the traditional market to identify the possible system to support the new Denpasar city law regarding single-use plastics usage. Then I met Mr. Wayan, leader of Pasar Intaran in Sanur, a middle-aged man who has extensive experience in managing the traditional market for more than 10 years. On some sunny days, I occasionally found him helping with the parking service. He is a visionary man who builds Pasar Intaran to be the cleanest traditional market I've ever seen. 

Then I met my old friends in psychology school and talked about the growing community who questioned the role of scientific journals. Being a systematic organization, they managed the publication of a hundred thousand scientific papers out there without benefiting the reviewers. We debated the pros and cons, but he made a point: there are lots of forgotten people and communities who struggle to make science the most accessible for all and, in return, raise the impact of science itself. There are lots of objections in my head; for example, is it true that by making scientific articles for the public, the public will download them, read them, and utilize them to tackle their daily problems? I am not really sure about that - then comes another forgotten party that makes science accessible for laymen: science communicators.

In the last five years, I found that being a science communicator is hard. I am not saying that other jobs are easy peasy, but dealing with the audience, subject matters, and scientists at the same time could be convoluted. Working in a relatively compact organization with minimum politics really helped me of doing my day-to-day assignments, and that is the sole reason I have no interest in joining large corporations or research agencies - at least until today. 

There are other people who are often forgotten in our life:

those who pray for us.

I had an outstanding experience accompanying a middle-aged woman after her husband's death for almost a year. I assisted her in visiting remote places, met some farmers, and witnessed her praying for many nights. I learned about going through a painful moment in life and getting ongoing. One night, she showed me a prayer of Mother Mary. She wished that I could be as strong and forgiving as Mother Mary. I won't forget that night. She said she would be always praying for my health and wealth. I had a birthday last month. Since that experience of Mother Mary prayer, every time someone wishes sincerely for me on my birthday, I feel very happy. It doesn't matter if the prayer would be only floating between the stars; what does matter is their good intention and gratitude for our presence.

But then I realize that in this age, having a fancy birthday celebration is no longer important.
Being forgotten by so many people is also no longer imperative.

Citing my boss, what matters with our age is never the number; it's rather what we do with it.