How’s that for a film title?!

I suppose commemoration of a year after the great fall of economy following Lehman Brothers bankruptcy last year, no doubt, brought it to the fore. But I found hearing it on the news or reading it in newspaper unbearable.

… sustainable…

I seemed to have developed a phobia for the word. When I skimmed the paper and read the word “sustainable recovery” (on a coverage of G20 Summit), my stomach ached. I wanted to throw up. Suddenly, I felt itchy on my limbs. I admit it was the first “sustainable” I read in weeks, which probably means I haven’t read much lately.

But I think I’ve had enough of that “s” word. It had infiltrated almost every aspect of my life. It dominated and coloured the economic-speak and politic-speak that characterised the year national calendar. Politicians, officials, and bureaucrats use the word to look and sound intelligent. It was scattered in interviews, public speeches, lectures, and articles. Even a banner in the road I passed today read, “Dengan semangat Idul Fitri, mari kita bangun kebersamaan yang sustainable (with the spirit of Idul Fitri, let’s build sustainable togetherness)” or something similar. I had to pull over because I couldn’t contain the laughter, and itch.

It reminded me of another fancy word, “millennium”, that ran amok at the beginning of the 2000s. And there lays hope that, like the “millennium” that then went out of fashion, it will pass eventually.