A new reformation
Making real changes for the better
THE headlines in our media seem to indicate that Fiji is in need of a big reformation. This word reformation usually refers to the huge changes made to the Christian church during the 16th Century.
It seems that Fiji is in need of some huge changes to the way we live our lives and organise ourselves as a society.
Our first response to this need for reformation is to expect the Government to do it: “It’s their responsibility. Isn’t this what we elected them for?” Is it not possible that we ourselves can do much to find ways of dealing with some of our problems?
Let us look at ourselves.
The first thing we see is the mobile phone almost permanently stuck to the ear and inevitably there in the hand.
This device is of great benefit in many ways.
It is a wonderful means of communication.
For example, every morning my family in the USA is assured that the 89-year-old Bui is alive and flourishing.
They receive a secondslong video of me entering the swimming pool at 6am for my morning exercise coupled with greetings in Fijian from my carer who is watching over me.
They appreciate the contact with home too, and learning what our weather is like and sharing their news of snow or wind when we are too hot!
I personally have regular contact with my family, who are overseas, every week and we chat away happily sharing news and views. But this use of the internet is open to terrible abuse.
Social media should be a great means of communicating, but some people seem to delight in using it to hurt others and ruin their reputations.
Mobiles are also a means of access to entertainment.
There is an advert “Entertainment on the Go” – what! Entertainment is for leisure hours.
Advertisements are a snare.
They lead us into false hopes of luxury.
Working hours are abused because entertainment is easily at hand.
We fill our houses with things we do not need and our food cupboards get filled with unnecessary junk food.
Dishonesty and fraud are becoming deeply rooted, bringing lack of respect for our leaders.
To find that our police are tampering with evidence and not performing their duties as expected is a serious problem.
The cases of fraud bringing disaster to ordinary citizens through the abuse of the newly acquired ease of access to their money shows a terrible lack of honesty in society.
There seems to be a lack of trust. This is something we have to work on ourselves, each one of us making sure we are telling the truth, and behaving honestly all the time.
On our roads we see the motor vehicle, thousands of them, bumper to bumper sometimes unable to move forward. Hours spent trying to get to work daily must be a strain.
I am thankful that my husband could just walk down the hill to work each morning throughout his working life from 1964 when we moved into Suva.
Speeding on the roads when out of the urban area, and even on our little road not far out of the central business district of Suva, is dangerous and exceedingly foolish.
Why do we think we are able to do this without putting our lives at risk?
We seem to love complaining and are never satisfied So many letters in the are complaints about all manner of things.
As soon as we meet with friends, out come the complaints, the failure of the sevens team, the high prices in the supermarket, the potholes in the roads, the failure of the medical department, and so on.
What does complaining achieve?
Nothing! It only serves to discourage us and makes us feel miserable. People, especially the young, look for escape and sadly this brings the terrible problem of the use of dangerous drugs
Is there a way forward? Can we find ways to reform and change our way of walking through our daily lives?
Our young people need better facilities for growth. We have turned our student life into boredom and pressure of exams instead of the opportunity to explore this amazing world with all its boundless mysteries.
Those young people who opt out of society and who are wasting their lives by using dangerous drugs need to be rescued as quickly as possible and given the help they need.
This means importing specialists to help us. We can set up rehabilitation homes, but people with specialist skills are needed to bring these youngsters back to normal life.
All our young people need to be introduced to the world of arts and crafts from a young age, and given encouragement to use their natural talents as artists, musicians, craftsmen/women.
They need to venture into gardening and discover how to nurture our beautiful Fiji flowers and into farming to experience the bounty of nature, and the sense of accomplishment and delight in growing good food for nourishment.
We need to take a good look at ourselves and see our foolishness and make real efforts to bring change. Maybe we should begin with honesty. If we expect honesty from others we need to be honest with ourselves.
We need to cultivate patience. It will take a long time to make some of the changes we need.
We have problems that cannot be solved overnight, but we need to all of us get started. The Government is faced with many problems that will take years of work to remedy.
We need to be realistic in our expectations. There are sometimes ways in which encouragement and suggestions can be offered by us the public to those in positions to make some of the changes that we cannot do ourselves.
It is good that this Government is encouraging genuine consultation and sharing of ideas
We should revise our shopping lists to include only our needs.
When we walk through the aisles in the supermarket we need to avoid the temptations, the attractively designed containers, boxes and packets that appeal.
We now live in an age that has lost the honesty of manufacturers. So many items have built-in obsolescence and we are expected to replace big household items frequently.
The city authorities have to provide special collections to pick up items that should have been made to last and not be thrown away after very few years use.
My sewing machine, bought for me in 1962 can still do basic stitching. The gas cooker that my husband bought in 1961 has been refurbished over the years and still serves its purpose with stove top gas rings and a working oven.
My vacuum cleaner is forty years old and still cleaning efficiently.
But my electric kettle, only a year or so old, split down the side leaking water all over the sideboard. It has not been replaced.
I am back to the old aluminium grandfather kettle and using a little saucepan when it is only one cup needed. Where is our sense of humour?
I grew up with the great cartoonist Giles who provided a good prod to our pride and wickedness, with a daily commentary and laugh made available in the newspaper.
In a very gentle way he poked fun at us all, the high and mighty and us ordinary folk.
There were less distractions in life then and we cannot return to the old days, but there are many old ways of doing things that we can and should revive.
And make better use of the new things such as mobile phones. We could, all of us, be a great deal happier if we make some real changes for the better.