THE GLORY OF NATURE
One of the pleasures of visiting my birthplace is getting an opportunity to appreciate the glory of nature that prevails around there. The fertile farms along the river that has its source at the top of the mountain range known as the Sleeping Giant and the beautiful scenery that made my childhood bubble with joy as well as the breathtaking experiences that I collected as an early formal and informal learner always make me appreciate the glory of nature and feel the special beauty of nature.
While I move around the village and meet with some of my childhood friends who now have their own family life and manage their farms, I begin to wonder about the grandeur of God and begin refreshing my feelings of His greatness. Apart from all that my motilities take me to all those places of interest that I shared as my childhood experiences.
While I spend my few nights at my Denarau apartment and take a look at the starry night sky by lying on the calm and peaceful beach of the Pacific Ocean, I am thankful to God for granting me this life and creating all the beautiful and natural environments for us to enjoy. It is there that I appreciate and strengthen my belief that mankind has been reaching for the sky and achieving a lot of things by the help of Almighty God. Thus I come back with my sincere and hearty feeling that God alone is worthy of our daily worship and prayers for continued promotion of peace and love for all living beings. I have lived my life well, given good service to the community but while doing all my best I may have slipped and fallen to unknowingly commit some sins. This is then my confession and I ask for forgiveness firstly from God and then from my people.
Then there is a story that takes me to early 1960s when I was one of those young, energetic and talented trainees ready to go forth to serve the community. I came from a small village and soon got acclimatised to the new way of urban living at Nasinu. I confess that life at that time was not very easy but gradually I learnt to adjust myself and face the reality. In two years I was given almost all the tools of teaching and proceeded to take my responsibilities and duties as a teacher. I tried to do my best, I confess.
At this advanced college of education I was given a specific responsibility to be the member of the students’ council to serve as leader to look after the finances of the council while looking after the interests and activities of all the students.
It was here that I developed my skills of drama and sports by putting on a few cultural plays on stage at various theatres and presenting some programmes for radio Fiji. Of course, my sports activities took me to games of soccer and hockey. I confess that my dramatic talents were simple and amateur and the sporting activities could not make me a national representative but gave me satisfaction of participation.
The relationship that developed with the colleagues and the staff was very important for my later communal involvement because we learnt to interact openly and conduct ourselves well within the means and mode of the society. This development made me fit into the community wherever I was sent to serve.
I must confess that I did my best to do all my duties well and perform my tasks with diligence to get accolades and promotions during my service to the education sector of Fiji.
