Caliph

Rais, 2001

It’s the campus in the city of Boston. A row of the academic building, each five stories high, was built a hundred years ago. A young man sat in the park near the building rows. He’s just graduated as the best in his class.

The Young Man learned from his personal experience that the education system today must be thrown into the trash. Everything he learned from this campus made him know that the outside world contains way more knowledge to be learned. He must go outside and study everything in the world. Not on this campus, not in an academic way anymore. He’s done with it all.

He had learned many things from university and found out that he was nothing more than a piece of dust when compared to what he got off-campus.

Rais Hoetomo, the young man, celebrated his 21st birthday a few moments after he earned his Ph.D. which people don’t know, he learned a lot about other things outside the campus during his academic years.

Rais often goes around on cold nights. He observes people’s lives in a country that people call a superpower. Many people live in the poverty. Those who live in their coats, sleep without a roof every night and must start a fire by burning rubbish to avoid the cold.

He became a street engineer, repairing heating devices for homeless families that he found. He also makes simple household appliances for those people with his abilities. During his time as a street engineer, Rais met a lot of people. Mostly, they are the people who live in poverty.

In his early childhood, Rais lived a luxury live. He didn’t find himself in any difficult situations. He came from a rich family, a very rich family. Rais’ father owns a multi-trillion US Dollar business. No one will think that the Hoetomo family ever feels suffered. No one.

Rais, automatically, always lives in the middle of gold. He can do anything he wants. He can afford everything in this world. People, of course, want Rais’ life to be theirs. Rais’ life is a dream for most people in the world.

“He will inherit everything.”

“He won’t be worried about anything.”

“He doesn’t need to work at all during his life.”

And so on, and so on.

That’s what people think of Rais.

Rais, on the other side, never thinks the same. Since he was able to read, Rais read everything. He reads books, newspaper, internet, and spend a lot of time in the public library. Rais’ father has a private library in their house. But it didn’t stop Rais from going to the public library.

Rais has already visited almost every Library in Boston. Almost every librarian in this city knows him. When Rais came, he can spend hours or maybe a full day reading books in the library. That’s why Rais kept questioning everything.

Rais didn’t think about his privilege anymore. He knows that he’s lucky to be born into a conglomerate family. But he also knows that he has a great responsibility for that. His privilege, for Rais, is a burden. A burden that he must use to bring a lot of people’s lives to better ones.

Rais often read about his country, the United States of America. America, from most of its media, told people about its superiority. America’s system of governance has put its people into prosperous lives. The propaganda of America spreads throughout the world. It makes people adore America. They want to live like the American people in the media.

A lot of people in the world have a dream to move to America, be a US citizen, or at least have a Green Card. It’s because America’s propaganda successfully put American life into a lot of people’s minds that it’s the ideal life. Many people make their way into being illegal immigrants to America. In fact, after entering America, their lives didn’t turn out as they wish. They became homeless and were sent back to their country by American immigration.

These facts made Rais question everything he got from the media. Rais then learned deeper and deeper. He found out that the United States of America is not as beautiful as what they told him in the media. In the corners of the city, a lot of people live in poverty. They sleep under the bridge. They don’t have a heater to help them in the middle of wintery nights. They even don’t have enough food for themselves and their family.

Rais watched the fact directly, with his own eyes. The United States of America is far away from dreamland. America has successfully put its people into a better life than the third world, for sure. But as a dreamland? No, it’s far away from reality. Since a lot of people still live in poverty and have no food to eat, the word “dreamland” does not match it.

It became Rais’ motivation to go to the street and watched directly how American people live. And also, it’s the reason why Rais became the street engineer. Rais did that for years and he concluded that he can’t do it alone. Rais realized that he was just one person. He can’t fix everything. His “clients” are too many. Rais must think of other ways to help his people.

Rais was amazed at the determination of these people to live every day. He doubted himself if he was born in their conditions, whether he can survive it or not. these people can live with less than two bucks a day. Rais can’t imagine how he can do it. Rais always has his family behind him during his hard times.

Rais had someone he called “friend”.

This person was a bum who has never been touched by the government of Boston. Every time Rais met him, the situation of the person who called himself “John” was always the same. Rais doubted that John is that man’s real name. John has no identity card. He doesn’t even have a birth certificate. No one knows who the man’s real name was. No one even knows who he is.

John always welcomed Rais when the young man came. Of course, Rais always brought some food for John. Maybe, that’s the reason John always welcomed Rais happily. Rais’ food could fulfill John’s need for food in a daytime.

John was a bum whose body smelled unpleasant.

Who knows when the last time he showered was?

Even for something to eat, he relies on people’s mercy.

John always said to Rais that he was waiting for a time when “home” called him.

When Rais asked what “home” meant, John pointed at the sky.

Rais nodded. He knows exactly what John meant. And Rais had learned about it a lot of times. People believe that there’s a world after this one. Including Rais.

In the end, from John, Rais learned that there was something that could move humanity far more strongly than the power of a dictatorship government.

This thing can make someone believe in doing something without being asked, even sacrificing the property he loves the most.

Everything is done voluntarily because of that.

It is a belief.

Faith ...

When the time comes, Rais wants to learn how billions of people can be moved by the people’s teachings, which they call the “Messenger”.

They have lived in their lives for even tens of centuries since their envoys exemplified their last breath.

This is very interesting for him.

The person called “Envoy” certainly has a unique charisma. It is not possible billions of people want to move to meet someone’s direction without someone who has something to be attractive. Rais was determined one day he would find it. He believes things like this will not be met on the bench of formal education.

Therefore, Rais no longer cares about education degrees. He has won the highest title. There are no more challenges in the academic world for him. He had conquered everything. After that, he hadn’t known what he will conquer next. Rais has no issue with money. Rais also has no issue with the carrier. He can be anything he wants. Then he thought that he must rethink everything after his academic days are over.

That day, Rais just sat back in his chair, looked out the window, and enjoyed the twilight of his last days in Boston, before he left this city, maybe forever. The city gives Rais a lot of memory. Hundreds of sleepless nights to complete his thesis and his dissertation. And of course, hundreds of sleepless nights to become a street engineer. All of that is memories of that day. Rais had to move forward after he rethink everything about his life.

Rais was remembering his Professor, who for more than six years since Rais first knew him, was still wearing the same shirt, suit, and bag. Rais was sure that that man had to wear it longer than that.

Even in Rais’ final days at the university, the Professor still enthusiastically talked about the edge between science and religion. He told Rais that he wanted to fuse these two things. Rais only nodded and nodded when the Professor said about the scriptures’ stories that must be explained in current science.

Because that man knew Rais as a Muslim, he occasionally took stories from the Koran. The man cited a lot of verses from the Koran. He read a lot from Koran, though. The man presented his citation from Koran to make sure that Rais had read it previously, and make it the content for their discussion.

Rais continued to serve him by nodding. He had read more religious books than the Professor, and all failed to attract his interest, except perhaps a little. Rais remembered ever Rais remembered every verse from Bible and Koran. And also, some other books.

Rais has read all the explaining about monolithic. His Professor was still lecturing about the relationship between celestial religion today and myths that originate from the time of the gods’ telling. He tried to see all religions as the same thing and think that today’s beliefs are nothing more than derivatives or adaptations of stories about the gods of heaven.

Ah yes, sure, Rais has learned everything.

He knew that what the Professor wanted was nothing more than his agreement, while Rais was not interested in all of these explanations. He prefers his deductions. But he still respects the Professor very much.

The Professor told Rais that he had never met anyone like him before. Also, he will miss Rais very much.

He once again (after thousands of times before) asked Rais to stay and teach at the faculty.

A smile is always Rais’ answer.

Rais himself was very bored with all university matters. Sometimes he just wants to read fictional stories and get back the childhood innocence that he never got.

He had read about calculus since his tenth birthday. Then he also reads about quantum physics, nanotechnology, and so on.

None of that gave him a reason why he was born into this world. The subjects just made Rais bored. Rais also knew that most students were bored when they were forced to study the subjects. That’s why Rais understood the challenge of being a teacher.

Rais has sworn that he does not and will never return to the academic world. A letter of resignation from this world has been signed. Rais has forgotten all his academic achievements.

But he promised that the learning process would never stop.

A few moments later, Rais decided to get down and take a walk. He wanted to enjoy the last days in Boston. It surprised him a bit that he enjoyed the view of the sunset on his campus. Rais looked around and found out how sunshine spread through the trees. He looked at the students who did their evening exercises. They looked so happy.

Rais was amazed that he has been on this campus for years, but he didn’t realize how beautiful this view is. People chat around at sunset, the campus building deflecting the sunshine, the leaves falling from the trees, and the street glowing. It’s the thing that Rais missed from his years on this campus.

He realized that all this time, he had been trapped by life’s unhappiness as a student. That evening’s moment made him realize that. He missed a lot of things. He missed a lot of happiness during these years.

People say that Rais is brilliant, but he knows better, that he is in prison. For years his mind was confined to the professor’s things, thesis, dissertation, and classes. Rais was busy and buried in creating a lot of academic papers. He did his research to make him the most notable doctoral candidate on this campus. The Rector and Dean of his tried to make Rais the asset of their campus. Rais didn’t want that. He just wants to go now. After these years, it’s all enough.

Rais wanted to forget everything.

He was also surprised to find himself continually thinking about his past days at university, especially about the times when he read stories that come from history. There are so many historical stories about the war that he encountered. Rais found that history was born of war. Without conflict, there will be no history.

Rais asked himself, will there be history books if there’s no war in human history?

There are a lot of stories about notable human scientists and heroes, for sure. But history was dominated by war. At least, from what Rais read in his years of studying.

Even today, the war still dominates the news.

Rais realized that human civilization at this time only claimed that they were “civilized”. In reality, nothing is different from humans today and humans in the era of their ancestors.

War, war, and war everywhere.

Rais’ mind was interrupted by one thing, would he be involved with war someday?

Then if it happened, what will he do?

What is the meaning of all his achievements so far if he later died by a shot?

Where will all his work go?

Then Rais’ mind drifted further into the old days. He’s a genius who has always been the star of his family, the Hoetomo family.

Rais Hoetomo became a phenomenon because he earned his bachelor’s degree at the age of seventeen.

His parents held a party to celebrate Rais’ graduation. They invited all Indonesian-Americans and Indonesian students to Washington DC.

Rais knew that this was a special day for his parents. He didn’t understand how graduation parties should be done. All he knew was graduation, while Rais didn’t understand why graduation should be celebrated.

For him, all of that is too “ordinary”.

During his school years, Rais indeed found some of his friends who had difficulty studying. Although Rais didn’t understand why his friend found studying as difficult as that, he still helped them. Rais guided his friends until they can do their homework perfectly.

Rais also taught them about a lot of subjects that his friends found so difficult. Rais’ friend got perfect scores on the tests. They were so proud of it. And they became so dependent on Rais. Rais was more liked by the students than his teacher.

Rais didn’t have a problem with that. Rais just thinks that why some people found the school subjects so difficult while he can do them perfectly and easily.

After all, it’s the point when Rais found out that he’s different from many people. That’s why he felt that graduation is too “ordinary” for him. It’s the thing that he can achieve easily, even with his eyes closed.