Five little monkeys, jumping on the bed.
One fell down and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor, the doctor said
No more monkey jumping on the bed!
Four little monkeys, jumping on the bed.
One fell down and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor, the doctor said
No more monkey jumping on the bed!
Three little monkeys, jumping on the bed.
…
…
Two little monkeys, jumping….
One little monkey…………….
No more monkey jumping on the bed!
This funny poem is read by so many little children in the world. One of them is my cousin, Daniel, 4 years old. He comes visit me almost every Sunday with his family. At home, we talk, laugh, sing, and sometimes watch: Dora the explorer, SpongeBob sometimes, Thomas few times, or Barney.
Last week, no watching, no singing, but reading the poem. He read it over and over. As I listened to it, I started to think why these monkeys could not learn from others. For example, the first monkey fell down, and the doctor said ‘no more monkeys jumping on the bed’, but why the second one, jumped, and finally bumped his head too, so there were three left. And the third one did exactly the same thing, and got the same thing too. It happened over and over, until none’s left on the bed.
I realized somehow, the poem is talking about us. About how we people can not learn from the others. How we ignore the suggest from other people. Just like monkey who kept jumping even the doctor suggested not to do so. It’s so funny how we live in the vicious cycle. We keep doing others’ mistake instead avoiding to do so.
The young beautiful Indonesian artist showed that thing. Thousands drug dealers and users out there are punished. And she refused to see, to learn from them. Jakarta people also refused to see Semarang and Aceh people for they annual flood. We keep throw the rubbish everywhere, and build as many shopping centre as it could. So when February comes, here we are Jakarta: “get your boot and lifebuoy and rubber boat. Jakarta somehow turns into bikini bottom (where spongebob lives with his friends).”
I don’t have to give longer explanation about the examples, because everyday as we walk to the office, as we drive on the road, as we sit on the bus, we see some regular mistakes are being done over and over. We have eyes, but we refuse to see, have ears but refuse to listen, have mind but refuse to learn.
If the second monkey on the poem used his ears to listened to the doctor and stayed calm, there would be four monkeys left (even more, if two of them were in love and decided to have kids). So the poem would be read like this:
Five little monkeys, jumping on the bed
One fell down and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor, the doctor said
No more monkey jumping on the bed!
Four little monkeys jumping on the bed
One said “hey, don’t do something like that!
remember the doctor and what he said.
Here we are now sitting on the bed.
Four little monkeys sitting on the bed
They discuss all things they had,
Remembered their old pall who has passed
And decided do something great.
(JUST IF)
So, we pick: Are we little monkeys on the poem, who keep doing others’ mistake? Or can we use our eyes, ears, and mind to inspire others for not doing the same mistake?
See, listen, analyze, and learn from others.
Thanks to my Daniel and his five little monkeys.
Daniel captured his face after reading the poem
One fell down and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor, the doctor said
No more monkey jumping on the bed!
Four little monkeys, jumping on the bed.
One fell down and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor, the doctor said
No more monkey jumping on the bed!
Three little monkeys, jumping on the bed.
…
…
Two little monkeys, jumping….
One little monkey…………….
No more monkey jumping on the bed!
This funny poem is read by so many little children in the world. One of them is my cousin, Daniel, 4 years old. He comes visit me almost every Sunday with his family. At home, we talk, laugh, sing, and sometimes watch: Dora the explorer, SpongeBob sometimes, Thomas few times, or Barney.
Last week, no watching, no singing, but reading the poem. He read it over and over. As I listened to it, I started to think why these monkeys could not learn from others. For example, the first monkey fell down, and the doctor said ‘no more monkeys jumping on the bed’, but why the second one, jumped, and finally bumped his head too, so there were three left. And the third one did exactly the same thing, and got the same thing too. It happened over and over, until none’s left on the bed.
I realized somehow, the poem is talking about us. About how we people can not learn from the others. How we ignore the suggest from other people. Just like monkey who kept jumping even the doctor suggested not to do so. It’s so funny how we live in the vicious cycle. We keep doing others’ mistake instead avoiding to do so.
The young beautiful Indonesian artist showed that thing. Thousands drug dealers and users out there are punished. And she refused to see, to learn from them. Jakarta people also refused to see Semarang and Aceh people for they annual flood. We keep throw the rubbish everywhere, and build as many shopping centre as it could. So when February comes, here we are Jakarta: “get your boot and lifebuoy and rubber boat. Jakarta somehow turns into bikini bottom (where spongebob lives with his friends).”
I don’t have to give longer explanation about the examples, because everyday as we walk to the office, as we drive on the road, as we sit on the bus, we see some regular mistakes are being done over and over. We have eyes, but we refuse to see, have ears but refuse to listen, have mind but refuse to learn.
If the second monkey on the poem used his ears to listened to the doctor and stayed calm, there would be four monkeys left (even more, if two of them were in love and decided to have kids). So the poem would be read like this:
Five little monkeys, jumping on the bed
One fell down and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor, the doctor said
No more monkey jumping on the bed!
Four little monkeys jumping on the bed
One said “hey, don’t do something like that!
remember the doctor and what he said.
Here we are now sitting on the bed.
Four little monkeys sitting on the bed
They discuss all things they had,
Remembered their old pall who has passed
And decided do something great.
(JUST IF)
So, we pick: Are we little monkeys on the poem, who keep doing others’ mistake? Or can we use our eyes, ears, and mind to inspire others for not doing the same mistake?
See, listen, analyze, and learn from others.
Thanks to my Daniel and his five little monkeys.
Daniel captured his face after reading the poem
