Radhi

My nephew, Radhi (9), is probably what the New Order regime called "Manusia Pancasila Seutuhnya" (a wholesome human being). He's still a brat sometimes, with some annoying habits. But he's generally a good kid, smart, talented and never been a trouble.

Radhi kicks ass at school, has excellent grades and equally great in science and language. He's really into arts and good at them. He plays guitar, he draws, he loves to read. He helps around the house sometimes, and takes good care of his two little sisters.

He is probably the only kid at school who doesn't own play station because his parents don't want him to be addicted to it. And he never argues about it. He said he prefers other gadgets, like ipod, or music instruments, which he often nag about.

On top of that, he prays five times a day :D His only flaw perhaps is that he's not athletic :D But he bikes everyday and swims regularly.

In the past year or so, though, Radhi's been a bit rebellious and likes to challenge adults and very critical. My sister, his mom, said that she often ran out of answers to all of his queries just about anything that sometimes she just ignored him. But his rebellion is still normal so far, and sometimes funny.

Like one time when the whole family were at my sister's house. He just went to the dining table to have lunch without asking each of us, the so-called elderlies, to have lunch with him, just for courtesy.
Just when his mother was about to scold him for being rude, he shouted "Wahai orang-orang di seluruh dunia ini, mari makan! (All the people in the world, let's eat!)". We all broke into laughter.

Last week, I went to my sister's house again, and suddenly, Radhi said that his little sister Najya has a question about me, which I bet it was actually his. "Najya asked whether you're Muslim or not cause we never see you say a prayer."

I was taken aback for a second before saying jokingly, "Menurut looo? (what do you think?)".

It was tempted to give him a long speech about religious tolerance and freedom and so on but didn't. I want to respect Radhi's parents, who obviously want to raise him up as a good Muslim, so I don't want to confuse him with my values. Not yet :)

Besides, I really appreciate my sister and his husband for respecting my belief, or lack thereof. They never question me, nor tell me to pray nor anything. Even though I perhaps is not setting "a good example" for my nieces and nephews for not praying.

Later that day, when Radhi and I were alone, I asked him, "Why did you ask? It's a personal matter, you know, even though I'm your auntie. Tell you what, I'm going to tell you the answer when you're 17 years old haha."

Radhi said, "Yeah?" and he wrote down in a piece of paper "My auntie's gonna tell me whether she is Muslim or not when I'm 17."
Suddenly, he made a buzzing sound with his mouth. Bzzzzz.
"Fast forward to eight years from now. I'm 17!! So, are you Muslim or not??", he asked, laughing hard.

I laughed with him too and told him again that it's a personal matter and that every religion is equally good (or bad hehe).
I sincerely hope that he stays a good kid and god forbid he would turn into a fundamentalist.

Posted by hera at Wednesday, April 23, 2008 4:31 PM | Permalinks