A Cerdikiawan and His Three Stories

If I had to describe myself in one word, I think I would be called resourceful, or maybe cerdikiawan.

I really relate to one of the early Gojek ads called “Cerdikiawan”. I know it’s not a “real” word. But I think It is a pun, or a mix between cerdik (clever) and cendikiawan (scholar). It is a powerful word for me, and honestly, whoever made that ad deserves to be called cerdikiawan themselves.

The ad shows ordinary people working around on small everyday problems with whatever they have on hand. Whether it is about someone using a fork to fix a broken dispenser button, someone tying a strap around a plastic bag so the “kuah bakso” can stays separated at the bottom while the “bakso” sits on top, or about someone filling a large plastic bag with water and poking small holes in it and hanging it from the ceiling to make a DIY shower.

I wasn’t sure what the right English word for it was. Is it cunning, ingenious, or resourceful? But I think I would go with resourceful, or maybe “a resourceful scholar” and I really relate to that idea.

I know this breaks the flow of the story, but bear with me, this part matters. There’s a line from Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech that stuck with me: “Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.” So here goes: no big deal, just three stories.

One of the first moments in my life that I can remember clearly happened is when I joined a drum extracurricular at 4th grade. I remember I couldn’t do the basic hi-hat, snare, and kick pattern. I almost always kicked again on the third beat, because my muscles were still a bit stuck since it was the first time I’d ever played drums.

Then something came to mind, “what if I just pressed my foot toward the kick on the third beat, but instead I moved it off the pedal?”. It ended up sounding good, my foot muscle still tapped the floor, but at least it wasn’t hitting the kick pedal anymore. I felt great. I could finally play the basic beat.

I know it is not a good method (or maybe it is for a beginner?), but i felt great. I felt… cerdik maybe?

[then the second event, idk what to tell in this part]

[then the third event, idk what to tell in this part]

I probably should end this story the way Steve Jobs ended his speech, by looking back and explaining how these moments led to success, how “lucky” he was that the dots eventually connected. But I don’t think I can do that yet. This is still my first attempt at writing this down, and I haven’t lived far enough past these stories to know how they connect, or where they lead.

So I think I’ll just end it here for now. Thank you for reading this, and I really hope that one day, I can look back and “connect the dots” the way Steve did.