Sunday, April 27, 2008

black and white

I think this is a cultural thing, and in the same time is, as Kelli said, grass is always greener outside our fence. Here in Indonesia people buy whitening cosmetics, and go to skin specialist doctors and spend a lot of money to have all treatments to get lighter skin. While pale skinned people from around the world come over to burn their skin under Indonesia's abundant sunshine. Alhamdulillah that Ibit feels comfortable with the fact that she is dark, eventhough she still thinks lighter skin are beautiful.
Kurasa ini memang masalah budaya, sekaligus juga, seperti kata Kelli, rumput tetangga selalu nampak lebih hijau. Di sini, orang membeli produk kosmetik pemutih, pergi ke dokter spesialis kulit, dan membayar banyak untuk berbagai treatment supaya kulitnya kelihatan lebih putih. Sementara orang-orang berkulit putih dari berbagai penjuru dunia datang ke sini untuk mandi matahari Indonesia. Alhamdulillah Ibit meraa nyaman dengan kenyataan bahwa dia berkulit gelap, meskipun masih saja berfikir bahwa yang kulitnya putih itulah yang cantik.

When we went to Kampung Kopi Banaran, we met a lady from Netherland and had a conversation (and she said my english was very good... *cheeky*). When I introduced Ibit, she said, "She's so beautiful". Ibit still did insist she's not. The lady (oh, I forget to ask her name...) confinced her that dark is beautiful and she wanted to be dark. But Ibit just smiled...
Waktu pergi ke Kampung kopi Banaran, kami bertemu seorang perempuan dari Belanda dan bercakap-cakap (dan katanya bahasa Inggrisku bagus lho....* jadi malu*). Waktu aku perkenalkan Ibit, dia bilang, "Cantik sekali...". Tapi Ibit tetep ngeyel dia tidak cantik. Perempuan itu (aku lupa nanyain namanya...) berusaha meyakinkan Ibit bahwa kulit gelap itu cantik, dan dia sendiri pengin kulitnya agak gelap. Tapi Ibit cuma tersenyum...

I, myself, also never thought that I am beautiful. And I never wanted to get lighter either. I'm not ugly, I'm cute. That was what I always thougt of. Black is exotic. Like Naomi Campbell, or Iman, or Beyonce, or myself :D
Aku sendiri juga tidak pernah merasa diri cantik. Dan tidak ingin punya kulit terang juga. Aku ngga jelek, aku manis. Itu aja yang aku pikirkan. Hitam itu eksotis. Seperti Naomi Campbell, atau Iman, atau Beyonce, atau aku sendiri :D

Thanks for all the comments to the former post, I'll tell Ibit about these to make her be sure that all colors are beautiful, and what the truly beauty is.
Terima kasih untuk semua komentar di posting sebelumnya. Aku akan meberitahukan kepada Ibit tentang semua ini, supaya dia mengerti bahwa semua warna itu cantik, dan tentang apa 'cantik' itu sebenarnya.

5 comments:

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

It is so true that we will pay to get our skin to darken...we pay with money and we pay with skin cancer. You are lucky as you have that much sought after shade of beautiful brown! Remove the colors and we are all just people beautiful in our own ways! Wonderful post, my friend!

Are You Serious! said...

♡ It's so true... We usually want what we don't have! Dark or light skin, curly or straight hair, short or tall! You could go on forever!

The Burp Cloth Babe said...

Kiss your beautiful daughter. It is sad that there is so much focus on what we look like. Although, I am guilty of it, too!

Kelli said...

and I think what makes them (all colors) beautiful is us all getting to know each other and see other ways of living. Its the inside that is beautiful. Some are beautiful on the outside also but its the inside that matters. I am glad to have a new friend from another country/culture. I am learning alot, thanks to my new beautful friend and her family!

Ferissa said...

blognya keren ! background nya juga