Happiness in the air
Many have said that 2023 seems to be a good year, people are generally happy, knowing that the aura of oppression that had lingered for over a decade has now been removed.
FIJI is the happiest nation on the planet. That was the conclusion of a survey by WIN/Gallup International Association published in December 2014.
Apparently, a staggering 64,000 people from 65 countries worldwide were interviewed to make that survey a reality.
And in the end it found that 93 per cent of Fijians were either “happy” or “very happy” with their lives.
When I first heard about the survey results I went: “For real? 2014? Yeah right!”
No offence! I know we are a bunch of happy go lucky people and sometimes we forget about tomorrow, but were we really the happiest people on earth? In 2014?
An article that was churned out by Yahoo said the reasons why Fijians were the happiest bunch were: the scenery, the culture, the food, kava and blah blah blah.
According to website www.flightcentre. co.uk one of the reasons why we claimed number 1 spot was the fact that we “have great weather”.
The website went on to say: “Fiji has plenty of rain too – around 368mm in March – meaning its crops are abundant and everyone is well-fed”.
Looking back now, nothing big happened in 2014 to make us happy, except Fiji’s general elections of September 17, held eight years after Fiji’s fourth coup (2006).
The media went abuzz, feeding public frenzy over some firsts generated by new constitutional arrangements Fijians did not decide but were forced to follow.
These included a deracialised electoral system in which the entire country formed a single electorate and utilised open-list proportional representation.
A few years after the “happiness barometer” an article published at the end of 2017 stated that global surveys showed Fiji had been ranked as the happiest country in the globe.
We had topped the happiness index in the global end-of-year survey on “hope, optimism and happiness”.
That year an Australian online article attributed Fijians’ happiness status to 11 things.
Three of them were attributed to the fact that we “say bula to everyone”, “live on Fiji time” and “embrace culture”.
All attributions seems to have said Fiji is small island country in the South Pacific, but its people have big hearts.
The happiness survey was initiated by Dr George Gallup, inventor of the famous Gallup Poll.
His surveys gave Fiji’s tourism industry an opportunity to enhance its tourism image and generate more revenue through happiness-oriented rebranding initiatives and slogans like “Open for happiness”, “Where happiness meets you” and very recently - “Where happiness comes naturally”.
Let’s face it. Fiji is beautiful. It is located in the heart of the Pacific and offers everything any travel and adventure connoisseur would dream of.
On top of that, what makes Fiji super popular is its people. We are known for our big hearts and smiles, hospitality, and our unique culture and values, which are centered on the family and deep sense of community.
But were we truly happy around 2014 and 2017, as declared by international surveys and ambitious tourism slogans?
To me, our state of happiness and content should be confirmed by something more than just us answering in surveys that we are happy.
Happiness must be genuinely felt in us and we must express it as a result. It must be seen in our deeds and kind acts.
Last week, I saw happiness in the air when hundreds of people turned up to clean up at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital.
According to reports, organisers had to turn people away because of the overwhelming number of citizens who wanted to volunteer their time.
To me that demonstration of civic pride shows that people are happy and they feel this way because they know they are free.
Last week also saw the unification of the Pacific family, when all members of the Pacific Islands Forum were represented at the forum retreat held in Nadi.
The fact that Kiribati had decided to join the Forum again showed they were happy and now, the Pacific family is unified and happy.
In January, the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) said that for the first time in three decades, they recorded the lowest number of calls to the FWCC helplines over the Christmas and New Year week.
She said this was because people were now genuinely happy.
“The people of this beloved nation are happy. Case in point is that for the first time in three decades, we had the lowest number of calls on our helplines over the Christmas and New Year week,” FWCC coordinator, Shamima Ali told The Fiji Times.
Not too long ago, the Police announced that the overall crime rate for January recorded a 13 per cent reduction, with 1265 reports recorded compared with 1456 reported for the same period last year.
According to statistics, serious crime recorded a decrease of 28 per cent, crimes against women recorded a reduction of 11 per cent, and a 10 per cent reduction was noted in crime against children.
This echoed views expressed by many that the Christmas period was generally crime-free.
Many have said that 2023 seems to be a good year, people are generally happy, knowing that the aura of oppression that had lingered for over a decade has now been removed.
People have started to enjoy their rights and freedoms to march, to fight for justice, to protest, to express themselves, to hold government accountable without fear and to to enjoy true freedom of worship.
Workers now feel they and their union reps are now being recognised.
What these few examples are telling us is this – there is happiness in the air and the dark days of oppression are over.
Until we meet on this same page same time next week, stay blessed, stay healthy and stay safe.