The World of Mine

I know it's horrible and gives you a dark day talking about the end of the world, but I can't help speaking it out, as I am so much troubled with this stuff.

Have you watched, heard, or read any news about global climate change, etc? It's a kinda hot issue now. When you read the International Herald Tribune, for example, you'll see these things have been published almost every day, whether it's about the intergovermental panel, the mayors movement (both on climate change), the losing islands caused by rising sea level, etc. It ladens me, indeed. So perhaps what I'm gonna do here is listing those things that worry me, in title "How the world ends".

Well, the conclusion I've made from various sources is that the world, whether you like it or not, however, somehow, will gonna end by either these things:

1. The All-used-up Energy of the Sun
I'm sure you all know that the sun is not eternal. We can of course still be exposed to its heat, which we need for life, in the next 5 billion years. But, after that, well, the earth won't be saved. We're gonna die, however, for if the sun don't shine anymore, what could a human do to survive?

2. The Rising Temperature of the Earth
Ok, the first thing might be too long-term stuff to think about. but, about this one, the rising temperature of earth, I believe it could only take several hundreds years ahead for the world to end by this.
The temperature on earth is rising from 0.2 to 1 Celcius degree per year. I live in Indonesia, which, let's say the approximate temperature is 30 Celcius degraa. Now, it means that if I suppose the rise is 0.5 Celcius degree a year, then it'll be 35 degree in the next ten years. What about in the next a hundred of years? Well, with the same calculation, Indonesia will be as hot as 30 + 50 degree, or 80 Celcius degree.
Can you imagine that? It's only a hundred years from now. human can't live at such a hot temperature.
Well, you can still think that we might be able to adapt later, so we can be what one of the thermophillic creatures (creatures living at high temperature habitats). But, 80 Celcius degree is far too extreme. I don't think we can live at that temperature.

3. The Rising Sea Level
As the earth is getting hotter, the ice in the north and south pole will melt down, that will lead to rising volume of the sea water, and finally on the rising sea level. since 1992, the sea level is rising approximately 3 mm/year. What's the consequence?
Well, first, some smaller islands will get drawn, disappear from map. I read this news about an island state in Pacific Ocean is being threatened by this losing from world map because of this problem. Now, can you imagine, in the next 100 years, when the earth temperature is 80 Celcius degree something, how high the sea level would be? If there's no acceleration, of course the sea level will be 300 millimeters or 30 centimeters higher from now. But, you know, it would be 50 Celcius degree hotter than now!

4. The Hole on Ozone Layer
It's reported that the recent ozone levels have dropped to 33% of their pre-1975 values. Thsi is mainly caused by CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) gas produced by air-conditioning and refrigerator. The consequence is over-exposing radiation of the sun onto earth creatures. Until now, the impact on human being is still around skin cancer, but, you can imagine what worse things can ever happen if the hole is getting bigger and bigger.

To be continued...

Yesterday was horrible. My dad called me through the office,extremely in a panic (I believe I could even hear him weeping), thought I got a fatal car accident and that I was brought to one of the city hospitals, very bad injured.

I was at the office yesterday, all day long. I was completely fine, uninjured, only suffered a little from a cold. My dad was very relieved when hearing my voice on the phone.

"Alhamdulillah (thank God), alhamdulillah!!" he said again and again during our rather short conversation.

Someone had called him before, telling that one of his daughters had a traffic accident and was brought into the Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital's emergency room.

No wonder he got so in a panic. Dad knew that although my office was in West Jakarta, I often went here and there to other parts of the Indonesia's capital to covering stories. I could have the traffic accident anywhere.

My dad was deceived, and the deceiver used the emergency call as method to make money. He (the deceiver) hasn't told him to transfer some amount of money, but he was on the way to do that. He gave my dad a phone number of someone said to be the doctor treating me, and told him to quickly call the doctor to immediately handling my treatment (perhaps surgery, bla bla bla) because my dad (although in a panic) wanted to check out first by calling me.

The bad thing is, my cell phone doesn't work really well that somehow I didn't know that he gave me a call. Thank God he called the office to make sure, and he got the certainty that I was actually very fine.

What a tricker! How could they use such a way to make money; playing around my parents' feelings!
You know what I wish to do? I wish to trace their number, get their address, come to them, and...and...do the worst thing they can ever imagine! (without causing them to go to the emergency room, of course -- I'm still humane, not like them).

But, perhaps, i wouldn't be so mean, anyway, cause actually, I'm a little bit thankful to them for reminding me of death (this is not a justification for their doing, of course).

Anyway, as I had gone to the hospital's morgue and saw with my own naked eyes a dead body laying there, I thought about it being just a matter of time I'll have my own turn. Perhaps it wasn't yesterday, but it could be today, tomorrow, next month, or dozens of years ahead, although if I could choose, I would prefer die of old age instead of a traffic accident.

Hmmm...I'm always confused when talking about death. When thinking much of it, I got depressed, but when not thinking about that at all, I would usually lose my head (in Indonesian: 'lupa daratan')and just do things as if I'm gonna live forever.

The problem with me is, I have difficulties in handling things proportionally. Think about death all the times or not to think about it at all, those are all the options I have.

Furthermore, not only in this case, I always have difficulties in being proportional in many things, which I realize is wrong and has caused me a lot of confusing times. I'm suspicious that there's something wrong in my head hence. Hopefully not, of course.

I don't think there's any of such term. I've searched in the www.phobialist.com, which is a quite good reference if you will to know the terms for many types of phobias, yet I didn't find terms for journalophobia, reporterophobia, or something of that kind.

What I mean by -- let's just say -- "journalophobia" is people's fear of journalists and reporters. I wonder why it's not named, for in fact, many people, at least those I've met in the field, have shown symptoms of suffering from the 'disorder'.

Indeed, I don't get it, why many people have tendency to fear of journalists?

I mean, if they are government officials, which are often criticized by the media, I still think it's understandable, because we do write many 'negative' stories about them, thou' actually for the sake of correcting them of course.

What I can't understand is that why common people have tendency to be fear of us too? Take for example, florist sellers in a flower market in Jakarta that I've just met today; almost all of them shut their mouths up after knowing that I am a journalist, though just before, they were so nice and friendly to me (they had previously thought I was a potential buyer).

I also experienced the exactly same thing when going to retro shops, fabric and shoes market days before.

What are they thinking about me? Do they think I am a competitor trying to reveal their selling secrets? Gosh, gimme a break, why have to be so narrow-minded? They can choose the things they wanna save for themselves if they're afraid of being inflicted by such investigation.

Ok, perhaps the problem is because I am new and haven't found the best method to approach those source persons. As my senior reporter friend said, 'you need to find the good intros, then they'll talk like a flowing river.'

I believe he's correct, I did find some good persons who are willing to speak after some proper prefaces, yet it's really really rare.
The problem is, as what I am troubling here, this community are suffering from those symptoms of "Journalophobia", which is well-known among Indonesian journalists.

C'mon, guys, do speak! We don't make bad news all the times, we do make good stories too, which also recommend our readership to come to your place if you indeed sell goods with added values and you can explain it well to us that we can make good writings based on those information you give us.

And even if we're working on the bad ones, your words can definitely clarify that you are innocent. If only, once again, you are willing to speak.