BEDTIME STORY

Seperti selalu sebelum tidor, aku bercerita dengan Zaim:

Dia tanya, " Am i a good boy, Ayah?"

" I think you are or i hope you are going to be. You are not perfect but again it is not easy to be a good person. There are lots of obligations to yourself, your family, and other social structure around you. Most importantly, people tend to associate being good with behaving in accordance to our religion, in our case Islam. Doing the good things does not always lead to better feelings or benefits for yourself. The attractions to do the opposite are always greater and most of the time they always win," jawab aku saja la, trying to be clever dengan anak.

Dia tanya balik, " Is it that hard to be a good person? You mean that everyone has more tendency to be bad ? "

Aku fikir lama sikit. Macam mana nak jawab supaya dapat satisfy curiosity dia di samping dapat mengelak dia dari bertanya dengan lebih jauh dan komplikated(rencam).

Lalu ku jawab," despite the odds against us humans, we have to strive to be good. Good in everything, at work, at home, school, with friends and especially in performing things that our religion demands of us...to the best that we can. The easiest way, to me, is just to be true to our own self. I think we can never be wrong with this attitude."

" Okla boy, dah malam pon, you go to sleep, ok? "

" Ok, thanks ayah, good night."

" But Ayah, have you been a good person Ayah?", kata Zaim sambil berpusing badan dan memejam matanya.

Aku diam.

Waktu jarum jam sudah menunjukkan pukul 158 pagi pon, aku masih terdiam.