Letters to the Editor – February 14, 2019

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Kevueli Bogilevu at his home. Picture: SIKELI QOUNADOVU

Bogilevu’s health and fitness mantra

KEVUELI Bogilevu’s health and fitness mantra is an inspiration for all of us especially with the vulnerable and ever-increasing NCDs cases in Fiji. At 89 years, Bogilevu’s vision is to surpass his father’s age of 94. His strict discipline on diet coupled with a stringent timetable on sleeping hours makes him the complete man he is. His vast experience in travel and now enjoying a healthy and wonderful retirement with his children is a perfect Valentine’s Day gift he can give back to his family. Vinaka Sir Kevueli, I salute you with many other Fijians and wish you well. Happy and joka Valentine’s Day to you and all our senior citizens of our beloved Fiji. Toso Viti, kei na vuravura. SHALWYN PRASAD Nabua, Suva

Happy Valentine’s Day

“LOVE is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone — we find it with another” (Thomas Merton). Hence, Valentine’s Day, the holiday of love and romance, will be celebrated today as people shower their loved ones with gifts that range from cards with endearing messages to chocolates, long-stemmed red roses and even jewellery. Sadly, like many other celebrations, Valentine’s Day has been commercialised and one can expect an increase in sales of ready-made roses and assorted gifts. While red will be the colour of the day, restaurants will be full of loved ones draped in red as families tuck into delicacies away from the home kitchen. All in all, love will be in the air and the mood is one of jubilation and excitement. As I wish all a happy Valentine’s Day, I leave you with the words of Frank Morgan, “A heart is not judged by how much you love, but how much you are loved by others”. RAJNESH ISHWAR LINGAM Nadawa, Nasinu

The gift of love

THE passengers on the bus watched sympathetically as the attractive young woman with the white cane made her way carefully up the steps. She paid the driver and, using her hands to feel the location of the seats, walked down the aisle and found the seat he’d told her was empty. Then she’s settled in, placed her briefcase on her lap and rested her cane against her leg. It had been a year since Susan became blind. Because of a medical misdiagnosis, she had been rendered sightless and she was suddenly thrown into a world of darkness, anger, frustration and self-pity. “How could this have happened to me?” she would plead, her heart knotted with anger. But no matter how much she cried or ranted or prayed, she knew the painful truth, her sight was never going to return. A cloud of depression hung over Susan’s once optimistic spirit. All she had to cling to was her husband Mark. Mark was an Air Force officer and he loved Susan with all his heart. When she first lost her sight, he watched her sink into despair and was determined to help his wife gain the strength she needed to become independent again. Finally, Susan felt ready to return to her job, but how would she get there? She used to take the bus, but was now too frightened to get around the city by herself. Mark volunteered to drive her to work each day, even though they worked at opposite ends of the city. At first, this comforted Susan and fulfilled Mark’s need to protect his sightless wife who was so insecure about performing the slightest task. Soon, however, Mark realised that this arrangement wasn’t working — it was hectic, and costly. Susan is going to have to start taking the bus again, he admitted to himself. But just the thought of mentioning it to her made him cringe. She was still so fragile, so angry. How would she react? Just as Mark predicted, Susan was horrified at the idea of taking the bus again. “I’m blind!” she responded bitterly. “How am I supposed to know where I’m going? I feel like you’re abandoning me.” Mark’s heart broke but he knew what had to be done. He promised Susan that each day he would ride the bus with her until she got the hang of it. That is exactly what happened. For two solid weeks, Mark, military uniform and all, accompanied Susan to and from work each day. He taught her how to rely on her other senses to determine where she was and how to adapt to her new environment. He helped her befriend the bus drivers who could watch out for her, and save her a seat. Each morning they made the journey together, and Mark would take a cab back to his office. Although this routine was even more costly and exhausting than the previous one, Mark knew it was only a matter of time before Susan would be able to ride the bus on her own. Finally, Susan decided that she was ready to try the trip on her
own. Monday morning arrived, and before she left, she threw her arms around Mark, her temporary bus riding companion, her husband, and her best friend. Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude for his loyalty, his patience, his love. She said goodbye, and for the first time, they went their separate ways. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…. Each day on her own went perfectly, and Susan had never felt better. On Friday morning, Susan
took the bus to work as usual. As she was paying for her fare to exit the bus, the driver said, “Boy, I sure envy you.” Susan wasn’t sure if the
driver was speaking to her or not. After all, who on earth would ever envy a blind woman who had struggled just to find the courage to live for the past year? “Why do you envy me?” The driver responded, “It must feel so good to be taken care of and protected like you are.” Susan had no idea what the driver was talking about, “What do you mean?” The driver said, “You know, every morning for the past week, a fine-looking gentleman in a military
uniform has been standing across the corner watching you when you get off the bus. He makes sure you cross the street safely and he watches you until you enter your office building. Then he blows you a kiss, gives you a little salute and walks away. You are one lucky lady.” Tears of happiness poured
down Susan’s cheeks. For although she couldn’t see him, she had always felt Mark’s presence. She was blessed, so blessed, for he had given her a
gift more powerful than sight, a gift she didn’t need to see to believe — the gift of love that can bring light where there had been darkness. ARVIND MANI, Nadi

Hectic week

VALENTINE’S week is a hectic week with events from February 7 to 14, 2019. So, we start the week of Valentine with rose day, propose day, chocolate day, teddy day, promise day, hug day, kiss day and Valentine’s Day. The week is filled with heart-adorned cards, bumper boxes of chocolate,
bouquets of red roses and teddy bears wearing Tshirts emblazoned with cutesy messages starting to appear in shops across the country. Now heavily commercialised and laden with expectation, the annual event was once a day where people earnestly showed their love and affection for another person. From time memorial, the Valentine week 2019 is celebrated by people of all ages. The origin of this day is related to St. Valentine who united lovers who were paired along with each during the Lupercalia Tradition. Wishing all the best on this week, happy Valentine’s Day. NEELZ SINGH
Lami

Rape and sexual violence

THE article on the front page of The Fiji Times (13/02) titled Rape and sexual assault of children … A national emergency is an interesting read, where Ro Filipe Tuisawau was linking the rise in the issue mentioned with our leadership of the day. He mentioned, while on one hand the House has always emphasised their progress, however, the statistics of rape and sexual assault has totally deteriorated under their leadership. In her response, the Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Mereseini Vuniwaqa said it was simple to say that statistics in relation to rape was because of leadership. She further said and I quote, “The rape of women and sexual violence of our children is because of us! It’s because of the breakdown of family unit, it’s because of the decay in moral values and that’s where we are to look.” I believe this is a very good argument to analyse and please allow me to give my analysis:  In this globalisation era where values have dramatically shifted from people centred to wealth centred, life have become more and more individualistic hence, contributed to breakdown of family unit, for wellness in no longer seen in communal, but, individual.  The effect of being a secular state is secularism, which is a belief system that rejects religion, or the belief that religion should not be part of the affairs of the state or part of public life, hence the decay of moral values. To conclude, I strongly believe that the many issues in our society today, such as rape and sexual violence, are reflections of systems and structures that we are adopting as a nation. KOSITATINO TIKOMAIBOLATAGANE Navua

Boxing showbiz

WHENEVER a sporting event does not conclude under normal circumstances, the return event becomes a sellout. Last weekend’s boxing theatrics had boxers slipping on a brand new surface, barefoot fighting and fans eager to showcase their unmastered kung-fu skills. It has generated much attention. Even the Sports Minister wants an explanation. There is an unreasonable claim that because of the hot conditions, boxers were perspiring a lot which made the surface slippery. It is February. In Fiji it will be hot. Boxers sweat in the ring. One doesn’t have to be Albert Einstein to figure this out. I think the return event needs better procedural planning. There will be a lot of interest. May I suggest a fully air-conditioned venue with lots of security. It could turn out to be a showpiece event this year. MOHAMMED IMRAZ JANIF Natabua, Lautoka

Bank fees

I JUST like to know why a maintenance fee is charged on bank accounts. Isn’t it the bank’s job to see the accounts are all up to date. By the way, when we had passbooks, there was no monthly maintenance then. SUKHA SINGH Labasa

Faith-based

RIGHT on madam minister. Religion has a strong influence on life of Fijians (FT/13/2/19). Why does the Ministry of Education interfere with manning of faith-based schools? DAN URAI Lautoka

Road upkeep

WHO is supposed to be maintaining the Nukubalavu Rd here in Savusavu? It is fortunate that we have vehicles on it constantly as it has kept the bush from growing across and covering the whole road. The danger is that there is hardly any space for pedestrians to safely walk through. This is not the first time it has been left to grow out to such condition. SIMON HAZELMAN Savusavu

On the phones

WATCHING the Parliament in progress on TV, there are those who are seated behind the speakers who are always on their phones and are hardly listening or concentrating on what’s happening. Why don’t they prepare questions that would counter their speakers against the Opposition. Come on, we got you there to voice our concerns and not to check or focus on your phones. TOMASI BOGINISO Nasinu.

Defying odds

HATS off to Gospel High School for taking the bold step to develop our potential athletes from Gospel Special School and include them in their schools inter-house athletics program. It’s pleasing to note that the students from Gospel Special School have been part of the inter-house program for the past 10 years while Tailevu lad Nasoni Nawanawailagi defied all odds to win the 400m senior boys event and 4X400m relay. Our senior boys will have to watch out for Nasoni because I’m sure that with his blistering pace, he will be able to make it to the Fiji Finals. Vinaka vakalevu Gospel High for the sportsmanship! RAJNESH ISHWAR LINGAM Nadawa, Nasinu

Second chance

WHAT’S cool about Lent is that it falls just about the time that our new year resolutions have fallen to the wayside. Use Lent as a reminder of all the things you wanted to do to make 2018 a better year. It’s your second chance. WISE MUAVONO Lautoka

Embassy option

WOULD the Indian government consider building their embassy in the West? ALLEN LOCKINGTON Kava Place, Waiyavi, Lautoka

 

 

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