Titus Jonathan's Stories

On the night of September 11,  2012 , Benghazi – the second most populous and the dusty Mediterranean port city in Libya – was quite peaceful until a sudden attack occurred towards the United States Department Special Mission Compound a.k.a. American diplomatic outpost by group of armed men. Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, who just arrived at the compound from his office in Tripoli, including the DSS (Diplomatic Security Service) team members, were not ready as the attack was run very fast. The attackers were unstoppable even by the 17 February Martyrs Brigade, a Libya armed militia which tasked to guard the gate and protect the compound. Some people were slain by the armed attackers who then set the building on fire where several persons including the ambassador were trapped inside the ‘safe haven’ room. About 1.5 mile from the burning US compound, there was a CIA secret venue called as “The Annex” where a team of Global Response Staffs (GRS) was stationed. The...

If there is something or some event that made Maria Sharapova a tennis player, it would be Chernobyl, a nuclear reactor that exploded and became a disaster in 1986, a year before she born in Nyagan, Russia - that might be the thing that changed her life. She wrote the words in this book. But if there is someone who play an extraordinary role in Maria Sharapova’ successful career, I would say it’s her father. Yuri Sharapov, her father, decided to leave his job in Russia to bring Maria to Florida, United States when Maria was six years old, with the only purpose to find the best tennis academy and coach for Maria. He risked everything to get Maria landed in Florida - the sacred land of tennis academies – with courage and determination that Maria could be a star. Yuri and Maria arrived in America with only seven hundred dollars in pocket and knowing only a few words of English. This was crazy. But as the wise people say, strong determination will open the way. His braveness to achieve t...

“Serahkan surat ini kepada panglima Yoab!” titah Raja Daud kepada Uria. Maka dengan dada bergemuruh –dada seorang patriot sejati– Uria mengambil sikap sempurna, tegap. Matanya lurus menatap rajanya, sang panglima tertinggi, lalu badannya berbalik, kakinya dihentakkan ke tanah, kemudian berjalan cepat menuju kudanya yang tali kekangnya tertambat pada sebuah pohon di halaman istana raja. Hatinya mantap. Ia menepuk kepala kudanya satu-dua kali, dan setelah duduk di atas pelananya, ia menyelipkan surat dari raja di balik baju zirahnya. Ia menarik nafas dalam-dalam, lalu mengeprak kudanya tanpa menoleh ke belakang menuju medan pertempuran. Dalam perjalanannya, Uria terus memikirkan tentang pertempuran pasukannya melawan bani Amon yang sudah berlarut-larut sekian lama. “Strategi apa lagi yang akan dilakukan pasukannya untuk segera menyudahi pertempuran?” pikir Uria. “Mengapa raja sampai harus memanggilku pulang dan memintaku membawa surat ini kepada panglima Yoab? Hmm.. surat ini p...

This is a documentary about  the  six former heads of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service who were tasked to guard their country from terrorist threats. Israel's Shin Bet,  the  equivalent of  the  American FBI and Secret Service, is a very crucial unit that must be led by  the  best person. You will see  the  men in this book. The  author of this book, Dror Moreh who is an Israeli cinematographer and director, conducted an intensive and lengthy interviews to six Shin Bet leaders, i.e. Avraham Shalom, Ya'akov Peri, Carmi Gilon, Ami Ayalon, Avi Dichter, and Yuval Diskin who headed  the  service from 1980 to 2011 respectively. The   Gatekeepers ,  the  title that Moreh chose, told a story about  the  character,  the  determination,  the  thought and  the  decision  the  six men should make in their daily live most of which was made in  the ...

If you have watched the film Bridge of Spies --directed by Steven Spielberg with Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance as the main actors—you will find different angle and detail when you read the book. The film (released in 2015) was more telling about James Donovan (played by Tom Hanks) who appointed by American government as the lawyer of suspected Soviet spy Rudolf Abel who was arrested in the US at 21 June 1957, while in this book, the story of James Donovan was not too detail described, instead the book writer –Giles Whittell—told more about the story of William Fisher aka Rudolf Abel who had multiple disguise names such as Emil Goldfus, Martin Collins, Robert Callan, and many more. He was KGB colonel and the most senior undercover Soviet agent in North America from 1948 to 1957. The other figures who were written in this book, of course, were Francis Gary Powers, an American pilot who was captured when his spy plane shot down by Soviet Army, and Frederic Pryor, a young American student...

Who is Edson Arantes Do Nascimento? Perhaps this name only known by few people. But for sure, if Pele is mentioned, the world know him very well. Not only is he known by football afficionados, but also by everyone from every level of society in the planet; from school boys to teachers, from taxi drivers to businessmen, from singers to movie stars, from politicians to the Presidents, even The Pope. Pope Benedict XVI is the football lover besides his predecessor, Pope John Paul II who played football in his young age in Poland. Ronald Reagan, when received Pele in the Oval Office, said, “Good to meet you. I’m the President of the United States; you don’t have to tell me who you are – I know you’re Pele, everybody knows!” People around the world know Pele as the greatest footballer with his fantastic achievement. He scored 1,283 goals during his professional career – started with his football club Santos in 1956 and ended with club Cosmos in 1977 - and decided to retire when he wa...

Winston Churchill was the saviour of his nation. He saved the nation during World War II from Hitler and his military machines. Looking back to the history, few days just after becoming prime minister, Churchill was facing calls from some to make peace with Hitler, as the loss of so many men in World War I was still a recent memory. However, in front of House of Commons (UK Parliament) on 13 May 1940 he said, “I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.’" His speech intended to make clear to everyone that the only option to face Hitler was to “wage war”, not make a peace. Again, when German troops had taken-down Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg while 338,000 of British and French troops cornered at port of Dunkirk, in front of House of Commons on 4 June 1940, Churchill delivered his explosive speech. He roared, “ We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, w...

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” -- Oswald Chambers Pada suatu masa, terjadi kelaparan hebat melanda tanah Israel. Hujan tak pernah turun selama lebih dari dua tahun. Tanah kering-kerontang tak menghasilkan apa-apa. Kedahsyatan kekeringan itu meluluh-lantakkan kehidupan siapapun, merembet hingga keluar wilayah Israel, dan mengenai juga seorang janda yang tinggal di Sarfat, di wilayah Sidon (saat ini termasuk wilayah Lebanon). Bagi janda itu, hidup dan mati hanya berbatasan setipis rambut. Meja makannya kosong, periuk-belanganya telah lama kering. Wajannya sudah beberapa hari tengkurap, setelah penggorengan itu dipakainya terakhir kali beberapa hari yang lalu. Janda itu memang tidak tiap hari meremas tepung dan membikin roti. Ia mencoba bertahan dengan mengatur pola makannya bersama seorang anaknya. Tepung dan minyak yang dimilikinya tak bakal cukup jika harus tiap hari memasak, karena kemarau tak ada tand...

Bethlehem remains a little town until today, despite a great story occurred in the town about 2,000 years ago when the Christ was born. As a biography, this book is telling about Bethlehem from the very ancient era, told by Nicholas Blincoe – an English author – who is living there after married with Leila Sansour who born to an old Palestinian Roman Catholic family. Reading the history of Bethlehem in this book became interesting since Blincoe did not tell only by reference books of history but he walked through his experience in every corner of the town then wrote it. The story begins with a Christmas pudding that Blincoe brought as a gift to his girl-friend’s parents in December 1994. From the pudding Blincoe told about ingredients inside it, the origin where the ingredients came from, how it was brought to the Bethlehem, who brought it until almost all of its became common plants that are growing in garden of every house in Bethlehem today. The history of his pudding told t...

Alistair Horne, the writer of the book selected 1973 as the crucial year not only for Kissinger or United States of America but also for the world, because of major events shattered America surrounding the defeat in Vietnam war, Watergate scandal that culminating President Nixon’s resignation, war in the Middle East - the Yom Kippur war, Augusto Pinochet coup d’etat in Chile, and finally the economic collapse caused by Arab oil embargo. Kissinger was also the architect who opened the relationship with China and Russia (USSR at that time) in the post war era. He chatted with Chairman Mao Zedong as friend, and walked with Leonid Brezhnev in a relax manner despite the seriousness of the political talk. In this book, the story of the 1973 crucial year is actually a portrait of a man named Heinz (Henry) Alfred Kissinger who played an important role on the foreign policy of America, not only in that year but also that his trail of formulation of the foreign policy of America continues to...

The first, this is a story about perseverance. The second, it’s about the spirit of a family where love, trust, and encouragement was planted, grew and flourished. The Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, began their dream that ‘man can fly’ in their home in Dayton, Ohio, in 1896. At that time, Orville, 25, was struck by the dreaded typhoid, for days he lay in a delirium, close to death. It was a month before he could sit up in bed. His brother, Wilbur, 29, reading a book for Orville about German glider enthusiast Otto Lilienthal who had recently been killed in an accident. Lilienthal had been doing his aviation experiment by taking lesson from the birds. He died after crashed several times of which the last caused him a broken spine. Apparently, the book about Lilienthal failure triggered Wilbur and Orville’s mind to do experiment based on the lesson-learned. “The works of Lilienthal had ‘infected’ us with the unquenchable enthusiasm and transformed idle curiosity into the activ...

Pope Francis is not only talking about theology, but also humanity. He is not only talking about faith, but also deeds. So when he talks about deeds, it is not only words. Faith without deeds is meaningless, that’s why he acts. His view about immigration, poverty, diversity, globalization, politics, social injustice and about the faith itself, is very insightful. This book is his conversation with a French reporter Dominique Wolton who interviewed the Pope in a very non formal manner at Saint Martha’s House, beside Saint Peter’s Basilica at Vatican City. In the interview session, the Pope is so natural. He replies seriously, but sometimes punctuated by laughter, too. All topics are discussed, and all are serious topics, including the issues of war that causes people are displaced from their country and flee as refugees. He criticized the countries that close its door to get the refugees in. “ Our theology is a theology of migrants. Because we all are, since the call to Abraham, w...