"The Maestro"

A person is a maestro when he or she has reached the highest level of competence in a field. The person will be the light for other people, to show direction, guidance, examples, and inspiration to those who follow their path. They do not owe their greatness to praises, nor to circumstances that allow them a spotlight, nor to engineered condition and manipulation, but because they are indeed grand.

We cannot measure the grandeur of a maestro with numbers. We cannot measure it in sums. We instead assess it from the influence, impact, benefit, of their presence to the environment and to those who have been touched by them directly or indirectly. The effects of their presence create change, progress, and even a reversal or deviation from present values to reach a higher place. The greatness of a maestro creates new values and harmony.

Through a maestro’s virtuoso the surrounding life becomes fertile. Fresh ions are spread to recycle thoughts and feelings thus instigate a sense of creating and producing. A maestro is a fertilizer, a stimulant, that moves life forward to find answers harmonious with the challenges and demands of times. A maestro is the prime pillar in his or her field.

Yet, a maestro is also an ordinary human being. They are not sterile of those needs that other people also have. Their greatness is not always followed by a proper bonus for all the hard work, struggle, sacrifice, and service they do. Oftentimes, they do not get what they deserve. Too much focus on their specific activities, their attention has shifted from taking care for their own life. When other people relish on their retirement days, many maestros are helpless. They just have to exchange their grandeur with hardship.

Many maestros are paralyzed in their old age. Their body deteriorates although their passion could still be burning. Or, probably their spirit starts to get exhausted because, just like their heads, they always bumped into a stubborn stone hill. The burden they have to carry is too heavy. The maestros have neglected the safety and comfort of their last years of life for the sake of work. It is true that their greatness benefit many people, even the country, but often not to themselves. In such helpless state, many maestros died in silence; disappear and vaporized. Even history forgets to record them.

Every now and then, the state is in awe. Marveled by the flashlights, and suddenly remembers their assets they should take care of. Not only oil, gas, and other natural resource that can be measured with numbers, that have to be taken care of, but also the old, toothless, tigers. Then the state hastily forms official committee to convey charity of welfare to these maestros. Despite the tiny amount, the attention is reasonable. But only half a year through, the donation subsides, and gone into the ether. There are many reasons. Urgent problems are piling up. Legend has it that the donation is never clear, is actually terminated, or redirected into greedy baskets.

The maestros could not care less since they have found their inner joy. The significant presence of their work is sufficient. The sparkling awe and respect in the eyes of the audience is everything. Material was not what they strived for. It is meaning. Comfort is not what they are heading to. It is the adequacy of many people. To them, living in service is their right. They do not care whether they are losers because they have accept themselves as victims. Their life is a dharma for the society, and for life.