BALADA THE PRAJA

Ep. 6 – STARS

Her name is Bintang, in September, a beautiful girl with a posture that was even 18 years old.

At first glance, she is seen as a girl who is jovial and easy to get along with, in fact she is also a good listener and observer, he said, perhaps it was also the reason he was often the place where his friends asked for advice so that his friends were happy to pour out their problems to him.

He likes to write and read, seen from the frequent spending his free time in the library Ksatrian, although he may also have many other likes. To be sure, he likes to share his life story on his social media or through his responses and stories to his friends who want to listen to his story, maybe because he thinks that his story will inspire others and make them make their own choices and take responsibility for the life they should live and enjoy.

If you hear from what his friends say, life Star quite fun, supposedly can be analogized like a long adventure full of endless puzzles. He is living well until now because of the choices he has made and certainly will not regret it, because he always felt that big decision he had taken at any given time, it was a choice that had saved him from a life of regret and seemed to have escaped him from the prison he could leave behind.

The star comes from a family that is not intact, his father and mother divorced while he was still in school in 3rd grade Elementary School. He had a younger brother and an older sister from his father's first marriage, so from childhood he was used to taking care of his sister along with his older brother. The three of them had lived with his father after the abandonment of his mother, but since Bintang rose to 4th grade Elementary, he lived with his uncle and aunt, who also still lived with his father's grandmother. It was his uncle who had helped Star education a lot until now.

Hearing the story of this Star, I became increasingly sympathetic towards its figure, which although always looks jolly, in the heart of the Star seems to still have wounds that seem to be unable to heal, he said, but he can hide well, not visible on the surface but still can be felt the impact.

I also realized that even though the Star seemed to be able to get along with many people, but in fact he was a child who was not open to the feelings he felt himself. Especially when I heard that he was going through his school period with full of struggle, where he had to really take care of himself and his sister from a very small age, where he had to be, he most likely felt he had no right to complain.

I can imagine the suffering of a child, who seems to have lived in a circle that must rotate in the direction and direction of others every day. Where bad things begin to happen to his family, which may make him more isolated his own feelings, he must start to keep a lot of secrets, especially the loss of confidence slowly at certain stages.

After the graduation announcement and seeing his test scores, he decided to go to high school, however. She did not want to be like her sister who resigned to the situation and only filled the time after graduating Junior High with some household skills (such as sewing, sewing, and just filling the time after graduation, weaving and cooking) while waiting for a male who is considered good by his family.

At that time he lived in the countryside, there was no high school there, so he had to go to the city if he wanted to go to school, he said, while the cost of education for High School is very expensive even for the registration fee alone his father could not afford to pay at that time, because the financial situation is not very good. His father even deliberately went to work out of town to avoid Bintang, because he did not have that much money to pay for school admission fees, which could not even be paid in installments.

At that time he was only 14 years old, you can imagine he could only cry lamenting his fate. But God answered his determination and seemed to give a miracle, when finally his uncle got the money for Bintang to enroll in school. That's when it was said, Bintang was confident in the strength of his determination, if he was strong then he would definitely be given a chance and whatever happened he felt he should not lose the opportunity. Although he had to work odd jobs to pay for the continuation of his school fees in High School, he was not easy to break up.

For a village woman, perhaps getting married at a young age is natural, as her brother has experienced, but not for the Stars.

According to close friends of Bintang, who can also both continue their schooling in Ksatrian Jatinangor, Bintang is a person who has never been close, let alone dating anyone during school, Bintang is a person who has never been close, because he was well aware that there was a goal he wanted to achieve and he did not seem to want to share his mind with things that were not basic and considered a waste of his precious time.

After graduating High School, the struggle of the Star that has grown more beautiful, to maintain its ideals gets a very big test. At first he only kept silent when some men began to come to propose to his extended family and eventually led to serious rejection that he had to do as an affirmation of his dislike of the tradition.

But luckily that time, the Stars did not fight on their own. The star has a friend who also has the same ideals as himself. They both decided to tell and ask for the support of their respective families, to give understanding to their brothers in order to understand what he and his friend wanted to achieve. And in the end, even though it should get less unpleasant treatment and words that can be considered inappropriate to hear, it is, The star and his friend passed through this phase and decided to take a series of tests in order to continue their education at Ksatrian Jatinangor in the Manglayang Valley.

The star and his friend begin to see opportunities to fight for and make what they want.

Now they are no longer the 2 village girls who live life in the usual order: live, marry, take care of children and die alone.

As a woman, Bintang felt it had to break down many of the walls that limited its movement, as long as it was still in a positive context and still legally and religiously justified. And he strongly believes that whatever happens in everyone's life is the result of the choices they each make.

Through several posts on his social media, Bintang repeatedly expressed his hope for young women who are still stricken by tradition, or still do not have the courage to show the talent they have, he said, to begin to move courageously to achieve their own ideals, because it is only impossible if we do not try to achieve them.

He explained that he had chosen every path in his life and he was very proud of himself and certainly never regretted every decision he had taken to realize his dreams, because if only time could be repeated, he would definitely take the same path and choice.

The star once wrote that he was only one of thousands of people who managed to break down his limitations and start walking the path they chose.

Through a few stories of his life, he hopes that his story can inspire many other women to move forward with courage.

Young people must be willing to struggle with all the limitations that exist and start trying.

One tip that he shared, is that in every step taken, try to make it like a ladder that leads up, each stage must be increased rather than lowered. Although slowly but must definitely lead to a clear goal, then the condition will gradually rise without any peak restrictions because life is learning and continuing to learn.

Star oh Star, how this love is growing to know your figure who is not only physically beautiful, but also kind and noble..

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