Pope Yell

 

A shouting man denouncing the Church

disrupted an audience by Pope Francis at the Vatican Wednesday,

before being escorted outside by police.

as he stood in the back of the audience hall holding his mask in his hand and gesticulating.

 

The man appeared distraught and concerned as he implored the pope: "Please."

While being led out of the hall by two police and a Guard without resisting,

 

the man yelled, "God rejects you, Father. You're not a king".

 

The disturbance came near the end of general audience with the faithful.

The 85-year-old pope continued to deliver his address during the shouting.

 

The pope asked the audience to pray for the man.

 

We heard a person who was yelling, scolding, who had a problem.

I don't know if it's physical, psychic or spiritual,

but it's one of our brothers, in difficulty.

I would like to conclude by praying for him, our brother who suffers.

Poor man, he's shouting because he's suffering.

Let's not be deaf to the needs of this brother.

Bus

This time, I simply couldn’t hold back the tears from rolling down my cheeks.

Another problem created by an unbearably frivolous mistake had led us to crisis: [sembrono]

We’d missed the bus to go back to Mount Pleasant, the last and only bus on the schedule.

Actually, we hadn’t missed the bus.

We’d been sitting down in front of one that had “SAGINAW” written across the windshield and didn’t see a bus to Mount Pleasant.

When the bus started moving, I realized it was the bus that we’d been waiting for!
“Tell me, what should we do now?” I seemed to be asking myself more than him.
He frowned, thinking for a way to get back home. [mengerut – berkerut]

 I’d never wanted to call it home before; my true home is really far away.

That tiny two-story apartment was just a place where I slept at night with the other noisy roommates.
Home to me is a place where you can find a life, which rises with the smell of an old sofa that you have sat on for years.
He finally opened his mouth. “How much money do we still have, exactly?”
“Ninety-five dollars in bills, three quarters and two dimes.
I don’t want to count these useless little pennies,” I grumbled. [ngomel – menggerutu]

We only had US$96! Just enough for buying another two tickets for tomorrow.

“Be calm, honey, let me think for a moment,” he said soothingly. [menenangkan]
Then he suggested: “How about asking a friend to pick us up? We can give him all our money in return.”

It should have been the easiest solution, but it wasn’t at all possible.

Since we got here three months ago, we haven’t had many people we could call “friends.”
The only friend we had was Ivan.
But we knew how busy he was with his fulltime job on top of his college classes.

“How about taking cab?” he said.
“It will cost us hundreds of dollars.” “Another bus?” I shook my head, “I told you, this is the only bus station in this city.”
“How about taking the train?”

“Honey, you know very well the reason we traveled by bus: no train runs to Mount Pleasant.”

I finally made the decision: “Okay, let’s just spend one more night here.”

“Are you sure? But how? We don’t have any money for a hotel.

I mean, I can sleep anywhere, but what about you?”
“I don’t know. But let’s save the bus tickets for tomorrow. There’s no other way.”
For the next few minutes, I clasped the two bus tickets in my left hand.

We stared at each other, knowing that the very few dollars in my right hand could get us nothing but some cheap food.
“Let’s just go and take the Rapid bus. We still have the one-day pass.

I was right when I told you not to throw away those passes.
See, it’ll saves us a few bucks.” He tried to cheer me up.

That was what I loved about him, always being able to see the light in the dark.

In contrast, it was hard for me to pretend that everything would be fine.
“Where are we going to sleep tonight? I’m so tired!” I protested.
“Let’s think about it on the bus. There’s no use sitting like fools inside the station.”
He took my hand but I released his grasp immediately as we left Central Station.

In front of the station, there were Rapid buses, ready to take us anywhere around the Grand Rapids.

We looked at the big map posted in the middle between the bus lanes.
“Okay, then. How about taking the No. 5?
There are so many routes that pass Woodland Mall.
I bet this mall must be humongous. [sangat besar]
It’d be good for us to kill time.
And Thanksgiving is coming soon, they’ll have a lot of sales and discounts!”
I was so excited just imagining it.
He roared with laughter. “Oh, woman! It’s so easy to distract you! [mengaum]

Look, the bus just arrived!”

After we were on the bus, I was glad I’d decided to buy the one-day pass.

 I thought I would only use it twice today.

Oh, sure — like he said, it would save us a few bucks.

Thinking of the day we were having, my anger floated to the surface of my face again.
“By the way, don’t forget that I am still angry at you,” I told him.
“Oh, come on… Honey, who had this idea of traveling spontaneously?”

“It was me, I know! It’s just that I was so exhausted with school stuff!

And also, I’d planned it, okay?

I’d bought the round-trip tickets and reserved the hotel two days before!”

“Yeah, but you forgot to check that the Ford Museum closed at five yesterday and you blamed me for it?”

“We could have gotten into the museum if we hadn’t taken the wrong route!” I barked back at him, even though I knew it wasn’t his fault.

Lovingly, he put his arm around my shoulders and lowered his voice.

 “Love, listen to me. I am really, deeply, sorry for what’s happening.

Sometimes, things get out of our control. Does it still hurt?”

 I didn’t say anything.
 “Just tell me when you don’t feel well,” he said.

Another half hour passed in dead silence.

This city must be so beautiful during summertime.

Winter would come soon and all the leaves would fall.

Even with no leaves left, the trees would still stand strong with their arms reaching out to the sky.

It was natural, the leaves falling. No sadness. No misery. No loneliness.

The trees know that whatever is happening, no matter how devastating, it would end.
And the sun will return. And the leaves. And the joy of summer.
It’s probably the only reason these trees are able to withstand the freezing storms.
We prepared to get off the bus when it entered a big shopping area.
The mall had been decorated for Christmas. There was a 10-foot-tall Christmas tree surrounded by fluffy bears and boxes of presents giftwrapped in shades of green and red.

A few toddlers were going around happily carrying toys their parents had just bought for them.
I couldn’t help but gaze at a 2-year-old girl with green eyes and the cutest dimples. [lesung pipit]

My mind flashed back to this morning.
“Are you OK?” he said.

“Do you still feel the cramps? If you feel tired, let’s just sit down on that bench.”
We sat for a while, thinking where we would spend the rest of the night.

“The mall will close in the next hour,” he broke the silence. “Then?”

“We can go to Meijer or Walmart, they’re open 24 hours. Or any coffee shop will do.”
We got back on the bus and headed to Meijer.
Once we got there, we grabbed a shopping cart and walked slowly.
Aisle by aisle. Shelf by shelf.

I leaned against the cart so I could rest a little bit.
After wandering down the grocery section for the third time, we finally grabbed the biggest and cheapest bread we could find and one bottle of juice.

We ate the bread at the bus stop just before midnight,
and caught the last bus that took us to a 24-hour coffee shop in the Grand Valley State University area.
We ordered two large Americanos. I didn’t put any sugar in mine.
I hoped the bitter taste in my mouth could help keep my mind busy.

I looked around. There was life everywhere. People milling about. Living. [begerak hiruk pikuk]
“I’m glad I did it here, in Grand Rapids.

I certainly don’t want to return to this city again,”

I finally uttered my true feelings for this tiring day. [terucap.nyeletuk]

“Sweetheart, don’t let the past get in the way.”

His weary eyes sparked with mixed feelings of confusion, guilt, and also relief. [lepas]
=exhausted – memercik
Relieved = legq

“How could you say that, as if this isn’t going to haunt us forever?” [menghantui]
“Remember, we talked about it several times!
 I told you if you didn’t want to do it, we could have it!”
“Easy for you to say. And why would you call him ‘it’?

Because he just looked like a tiny bean when we forced him out?”
“Honey… Please… Don’t start this again. I’m tired of it.

Just tell me what I should do to make you feel better. Tell me, please...”

I couldn’t tell him what I wanted him to do.

 I desperately needed to cry, so at least I knew I still had a heart that could feel, even though I felt so numb inside.

“Do you think he will forgive us?” “Sure, he’s a good boy. Look, he’s watching us from Heaven.

He understands why we did this to him.
It was the best thing for him.

We don’t want to be irresponsible later on, that’s why we had to let him go so early.”
“I am deeply sorry that I spent almost all of your savings.

I didn’t realize it cost that much.”

“Don’t ever say that again. I would do anything for us.”
He held my hand for the rest of the night until dawn.

When the bus finally arrived, we bought two passes and headed for Route 1.

It was an unfamiliar route for both of us.

There weren’t a lot of people on the bus at this hour.

We sat in the back.

Then we got off at Meijer in Clyde Park to buy another bag of bread and a big soda bottle and had an early breakfast at the bus stop.
An hour later, we got off at Alpine’s Walmart.

We didn’t go inside the store because we’d already had enough of shopping and walking.

The scenery across the parking lot was a sight for sore eyes.

From the top of the hill, we could see half of this quiet township.

But it was too cold to stay outside.

We hopped on another bus that took us to Central Station.

The rain and the cold made us stay inside the station.

Except this time, I didn’t mind the wait.

Rose

Her big smile somehow eclipsed her small and slouching figure as …
she extended a greeting hand:
“My name is Rose. I’ll be your neighbour.”
We could not have asked for a warmer welcome ..
after a long and tiring journey as ..
we were to begin a new life far away from home.

Rose was in her mid-60s, a little younger than both our mothers back home.

The second-floor apartment, where we would live for the next 10 months,
shared a landing with Rose’s.
It was late in the evening.

My wife and I were struggling to move four big heavy suitcases up the two flights of stairs.
She must have heard the commotion ..[keributan]
before she came out to greet us in the dimly-lit corridor. [remang-remang]
“How do you do?”
We gave her our names, going through one syllable at a time \
to make sure she would be able to pronounce them correctly.


She got them right the second time. I was impressed.
“We’re from Indonesia.”
Her facial expression changed.

She squinted and gave each one of us a probing look. [mengernyit juling – pandanan menyelidik]
“I know your people,” she said, a crooked point finger raised like a professor.[bengkok]

If she knew something about Indonesia, it could not have been good.

“They’ll kill me in your country,” she said,

her left hand moving right to left at neck level.

Why would we want to cut the neck of such a sweet old lady?

I kept silent, waiting for what was to come next.
“I’m reading this,” suddenly she shoved a thick hardcover book at us, ..
seemingly out of nowhere. – entah dari mana

I had not read Jessica Stern’s Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill,

but I was familiar with the newly released book

because terrorism was the theme of my research for the coming year at the university here in this town.
Stern, the Harvard University expert on terrorism,

had included in her book the 2002 bombings in Indonesia’s Bali island as part of a Al Qaeda terror campaign that ..
began with the 9-11 attacks in the United States a year earlier.
“Yes, we have our share of terrorists,” I said,

nodding to acknowledge that I knew what the book was all about.
“But I can guarantee, you’ll be safe in Indonesia,” I added,
not so much to convince her, but more out of my sense of wounded national pride.

We’re not all a bunch of terrorists.

“Why would anyone want to kill you anyway?” I asked.
“I am Jewish.” Rose said.
Before I could say anything, she turned and went back inside her apartment. “Good night.”

We were too tired to be upset by this short encounter.

We finished moving the suitcases and

went inside our apartment for the first time.

We quickly found our way around: the bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom.

Tiny compared to our home, but fully furnished and it looked cozy. We had rented it from the university where I would do my research for the coming year.
Good to know this early - we’d have a neighbour with an attitude.

But this is America, the land of individualism.

You don’t really need to know your neighbours.

We knew, however, that bumping into Rose would be inevitable since …

our front doors were adjacent to one another.

We told ourselves to be cordial whenever that happened. [ramah]

A few days later, she surprised us by inviting us to late afternoon tea.

We gladly accepted.
Knowing we had come from a warm climate,
she showed us her wardrobe and offered my wife her collection of winter clothes, including some overcoats with frills.
“Thank you, but I am all right, Rose.
We already bought our winter clothes,” my wife said in broken English.
A little lie. We had planned to buy them before winter came.

This was still August. I knew from my wife’s expression though
that she was struggling to suppress her laughter.

She would not want to be seen dead in those clothes.
“Wheeled shopping bag? I have two of these. You can use one.”
Again my wife said no, thank you.

From our long stay in the United States five years earlier, we knew that only grannies use these carts.

My wife was not quite there yet.
Although this offer became a talking point later every time we struggled with 10 shopping bags each
for the 30-minute walk home from Market Basket where we would do our weekly grocery shopping.
“How about these swimsuits?”
I knew then we would have a big laugh when we get home later.
“You’re sweet. But thank you,” I intervened.

We learned Rose was all alone in this world. [tahu kemudian]

She had never been married and
She was an only child.


Her mother, a Holocaust survivor who ..
moved from Poland after World War II, passed away a few years earlier.

Rose had been a librarian in this university town, which explained the wide ranging topics of books she read, including the ongoing global war on terror.
Our conversation inevitably came to religion.
“Are you good Muslims?” Rose asked, after confirming what our faith was.
The effect of Stern’s book had obviously worn off.

She had moved on to another book and another topic.
“We pray and observe the rituals, if that’s what you are asking. What about you?”

“Oh, I stopped believing in God.

Can’t remember the last time I visited a synagogue.”
There was no guilt or remorse in her remarks.

Like many Americans I came to know,
they believed in something, but just not in organized religions.

They’d keep their religious identity though.

“Saying prayers every now and then wouldn’t hurt,” I said.

She seemed to ignore it.

Our friendship grew nevertheless.

I made the mistake of remarking how much I loved her home-made potato latkes.

Every week, she would bring a plateful of the Jewish pancake.

It reminded me of the time I complimented my mother-in-law, just one week into my marriage, for her fried chili eggplant.

After that, it was eggplant dishes every other night.

We’d invite Rose to dinner to our place occasionally,
although she never really went for spicy food.

We made sure whenever we had her over for dinner to go easy on the spices.
Rose surprised us in December when she revealed that she had been rethinking about her own faith since we had our conversation.

“I have started going to the synagogue again.
Every day, actually.
They gave me a job at the day-care center.

I will be celebrating Hanukkah again.”
There were sparks in her eyes.

“Good for you,” I said.

She seemed a lot livelier than when we first met her.
One day at the start of spring, I came home to find her with my wife in the living room of our apartment, looking scornfully.
“You’re a bad husband,” said Rose.
I turned to my wife, who only gave me a puzzled look.
“You should never leave your wife alone when she’s sick,” Rose said.

“It’s only a cold,” I said in my defense.

 “She only needs to rest in bed and she’ll be all right”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You should stay beside her.”
I learned later from my wife that Rose had made chicken soup and spoon-fed her.
I was never privy to the conversations my wife had with Rose,

but they were certainly bonding closer and closer through the regular afternoon teas.
Rose no longer had any qualms befriending people who …
she had assumed would kill her because of her origin.

Like most Indonesian Muslims, we too had grown up with a stereotypical view of Jews.
That changed in the months we came to know Rose.
One day, I made a national TV appearance to comment on the visit of President George W. Bush to Indonesia.

When I returned from the TV station, Rose greeted me at the stairway.
“My hero. Oh, I am so proud of you. You were good on TV.” She gave me a big hug.
Rose would make someone a great mother. My wife later told me she had been waiting for my return all day.
And then came what killed whatever remaining suspicions we had of one another.

This was in May and we only had a few more months before heading back home.
My wife informed me she had been asked to go to Rose’s apartment that morning.

Explaining that she was going to have surgery,
Rose showed us a wall safe where she had kept all her valuable possessions, including jewelry, the title to her apartment and bank documents.
“In case anything happens to me, you will look after these,” Rose said, as related by my wife. There were no further instructions.
“I have no one else. You’re the only one person I know and love,” Rose told my wife.

To our relief, Rose returned from the hospital a few days later.

We wouldn’t have had a clue what to do if the operation had not gone well.

She recovered and was soon back on her feet going about her routine chores, including her day-care job.
All good things must come to an end.

When we had to fly home at the end of my research work, so ended also our friendship with Rose built over 10 months.
The separation broke her heart as it did ours.
“Don’t say good bye and don’t look back,” said Rose.
But at least we left knowing that she would not be all alone again as we had found her.