Essay : Touched by a Real Kick Ass

(please, don’t judge my essay from it’s title)

By : Zaelani Maulana Hakim

“What Makes a Hero Truly Great is that They Never Despair.”

Roy Thompson

                I watched Kick Ass (a film by Matthew Vaughn), without an extraordinary attracted feeling. I thought this movie would just be an ordinary comedy. But I was really amazed when Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), asking why Superheroes, there are only in the movies. Why there’s no real superhero in the real world? I then thought the same thing. I see a hero very very rarely, whereas there’re crimes everywhere! What can I do ? I just shut up, doing nothing! Meanwhile, Dave gets up and declares that he is determined to become a “Real Hero” even without super powers. Then, he introduces himself as Kick Ass. “Nothing is impossible in this world, I can be a hero, I can change the world for the better.”

Since then, I am ashamed of myself, though in the end, it becomes an ordinary feeling, until a story reached my ears, possessed every drop of blood in my body, and controlled my mind.

                I remember it was Sunday, and I was in the middle of saturation with my friend, my friend invited me to watch a Japanese documentary film, that tells of a kindness of an Indonesian, so then I just focused full attention on the film. And it turned out there also exist Takahiro Murasawa, on maker of that documentary film entitled “Endang, Tahukah Kamu Tentang Dia?” (Endang, Do You Know About Him?). And Mr. Murasawa said that the film is inspired by a true story.

                Endang Arifin was a participant in a internship program, in the fishing industry in Hyuga, Miyazaki, Japan. He came from a family that had financial difficulties in Cirebon, Indonesia. He was a young man who always obeyed his parents’ advices. During that time, he also helped a lot financially, and didn’t want to bother his parents. He actually had a dream to become a soldier. He even determined to follow an internship program because he really wanted his parents’ pilgrimage to Mecca.

                To achieve his dream, he willingly left a scholarship from the University of Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia, and went to Japan. This is apparently the way he should take. When he was on the beach, he heard cries for help. It turned out, the sound was coming from two Junior High School boys, who swallowed by the waves. His sense of humanity was called, then he swam to save the two boys. Those two Junior High School students were successfully reached the edge of the beach and survived, but precisely the waves swallowed Endang, and swept over him. Then he died, died for people he’s never seen before, died before he reached his dreams.

He is Endang, a poor Kick Ass, who successfully touches my heart. He is a true hero. And he decided to be a “Real Hero”. He is my role model! He shows to me that I needn’t to be Superman to be a hero.

I want to be a hero. I want to spread kindness throughout the world, no matter I know them or not. I want to make the world a better place. I want to meet other Endang in this world. I’ll do it without selfless.

I’m sure, we all have our own roles to play; and if the world is to change, we all need to play our roles as a hero to the best of our abilities. My quest, then, is to figure out what are my unique qualities and how I can best utilize them to serve the world. Who knows? In the process, I just might become the best version of myself. So in the end, this is about ourselves. We serve ourselves through serving the world.

And for me, it is the only way to live my life to the fullest. To be able to look back one day, and say in my deathbed, “I’ve made a difference.”