Happiness Will Never Be More Beautiful When Enjoyed Alone
Author: Jacob Ereste
Freelance Journalist
Justice cannot be measured by the provision of equal amounts, but rather by treatment according to the function and role assigned. Otherwise, loyalty—even initiatives that advance beyond creativity—may stagnate due to the lack of incentives to stimulate the loyalty that is expected to be maintained and continue to grow.
Loyalty clearly needs to be maintained; even if it cannot grow, the flame must be maintained. Otherwise, there is no hope of continued progress and a fresh harvest. Moreover, the doors of initiative and creativity are often blocked by the desire to pursue one’s own ideas and concepts. After all, the sun never wants to lose its shine to a shot whose payment is always romantic.
This clear expression about the sun and the moon is indeed often the language of poets. Although it is also often hijacked by politicians who have lost the narrative in articulating the former democracy, whose content and value are fading like articles sold at retail.
Initiative and creativity must be authentic, standing upright and experienced by a pure and honest heart. They are not camouflage to manipulate promises that must be fulfilled with sincere and genuine work, like the blessings that have been crushed in success that cannot be achieved through one’s own hard work. Because we—as civilized human beings—cannot possibly live alone without others. Therefore, the old adage of “the peanut forgets its skin” no longer needs to be mentioned, like the old pantun about Malin Kundang, who was not only disobedient to his mother, but also to the members of the troops who risked their loyalty and devotion in every step of the struggle that should no longer know the term “futile” that can lead to disaster and misery.
This exposition could be called a poetic essay about the cruelty of an age that remains unmoved by poverty, nurtured in a never-ending search, like a hoax to divert attention to the hunger that continues to pursue, seemingly tirelessly.
So, can we still hope to be more productive and reap maximum results, when all limitations have been repeatedly faced in a manner that is always in a state of emergency?
Maintaining poverty for the sake of dependency is a true disgrace, wrapped in an inappropriate pretense that crowds the space of friends and relatives who want to uphold solidarity, mutual cooperation, and the like, often used in slogans like empty promises for future accessories at the dinner table. Meanwhile, the bitter coffee of having no friends feels increasingly bitter in a stomach confused by common sense.
So, is there still any understanding and comprehension of what remains unspoken? Or does it still need to be sung in a more heartbreaking key to tap the compassion absent from the treasury of polite and dignified literary language?
That is the understanding that is spread in the policies we cultivate together in our garden of sojourn: it must not wither just because a drop of indigo splashes into the pot of soup we will share. Because happiness is never more beautiful than when enjoyed alone.**
Banten, August 5, 2025
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