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Maya's New Site
(halaman 2 dari 2)
“What’s wrong with that?”, Megumi challenged him. She grabbed a cup of fruit yogurt.
“Nothing. Nothing is wrong with that.”, said Michael. They all went to the cashier to pay for their food. “Your question to me was, why I did not have a personal site. In a way, you were right. I don’t have anything to tell the world. Since I think it is silly to have a site without anything smart, or interesting, or enlightening, or useful to say, I refuse to join the crowd. I think the world already suffers one too many stupid website.”
They walked to a table by the big glass window overlooking the campus lawn, where a number of birds and rabbits were enjoying the spring’s warm sun.
“So, you think not everybody deserves to have a website?”, asked Megumi pressingly. She took a spoonful of the fruit yogurt and displayed a satisfying look. Michael took a big bite off his cheese sandwich and appeared to think while he was chewing his food.
“Yeah, I guess you can say it like that.”, he said once he swallowed his food. “Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that there should be a law that ban people from having a stupid personal website. That would be a violation of free speech. Let’s just say that, since it is very easy for people to publish anything virtually, the value of virtual publication is inevitably somewhat inferior.”, he explained in length, using big words and showing a serious expression that sometimes made Maya felt a little uncomfortable.
“Let me try to understand this.”, responded Megumi after a moment of silence. “You are trying to say, since it is very easy for anyone anywhere to have a personal site, the quality of it in general is low?”
Michael nodded certainly. Another moment of silence set it, followed by Megumi’s little nod showing a trace of an agreement with Michael. Maya tried to think hard, something is not quite satisfying.
“Maybe it looks that bad if all you care about is the quality of the majority of personal websites.”, Maya tried to argue, joining the debate. “But what about the process itself?”
“What do you mean?”, Michael asked before he took the last bite of his sandwich.
“Well, you may not realize this, coming from a very educated and open society.”, Maya started. “But in Indonesia, for example, I think it is a good thing if a lot of people have their personal site, even when the content may appear to be stupid and pointless to you.”. Maya adjusted her seat before adding, “ In a society where voicing your opinion has not been a major part of the culture, any means to do so should be considered an improvement. Especially for women, a group that in most society has always had barely any voice. ”
“I agree!”, Megumi supported excitedly. She appeared to have finished with her yogurt and shifted her attention from Michael to Maya, waiting for her to say something else.
“Of course you can look at it that way.”, said Michael when Maya still did not say anything.
“But… ?”, Megumi tried to fish out some more argument from Michael. He took a big gulp from his coke bottle and look at her two friends intently for a while.
“You put me in a hard position here, Maya. Anything that I said against your argument for encouraging women voicing out their opinion would sound like anti-feminism if coming from a guy, like me.”, Michael gave her a cunning look. “Look, like I said, I don’t have any problem with interesting, useful personal websites. Most of them, though, just look like a bunch of glorified personal diary made public.”, said Michael. Maya grimaced, Michael’s choice of big words again made her uncomfortable.
“Oh well, all this talk makes me hungry. Maybe I should get some real food.”, Megumi announced and walked towards the sandwich rack, leaving Maya and Michael at the table.
“Arguments aside, congratulations on having your first personal website!”, said Michael to Maya. She looked at him for a while, not completely sure what that was supposed to mean.
“Thanks.”, Maya answered with a smile.
-Rotterdam, May 21 st, 2004-
semua tulisan di sini adalah karya dan hak cipta penulis masing-masing. Dilarang menerbitkan kembali tulisan cerpen (dalam bentuk apapun), tanpa sepengetahuan dan seizin penulis yang bersangkutan.