One thing stands out when Hindus around the world celebrate Holi.
Colourful powders will be the order of the day as they celebrate the annual festival of colours tomorrow.
The festival is often referred to as New Year celebration for Hindus.
Tomorrow they will come together to share a common theme. There will be lots of colours, religious songs and the sharing of food.
There will be fanfare, joy and laughter. The abundance of colours though is a significant feature of the event.
It is about a new beginning after all. The faithful will consider an end to past errors and conflicts and look forward with hope and renewed vigour to a new beginning.
Today though, they will burn the effigy of Holika and tomorrow they will play with the ashes left behind in a symbolic destruction of evil. But it shouldn’t be just about Hindus celebrating a very special festival though.
In fact we have an opportunity to appreciate an event that we can all learn from.
As we go about our daily lives, perhaps we should remind ourselves that we all make mistakes. That’s life! It’s the nature of human beings.
We have our moments of weakness.
We live and we learn! Yet despite this, we each can look back at our mistakes, appreciate them, and learn to make decisions that are good for us all moving forward.
Hopefully we all can have it in our hearts to forgive and get over conflicting views.
Tomorrow is when Hindus around the world look forward with optimism and hope, to a new beginning.
They will look forward to taking a positive step forward, having learnt from the past, many will appreciate the need to embrace lessons with a positive mind.
No matter what religion we belong to, or believe in, there is one common factor that binds us together.
It is an appreciation of good over evil and acknowledgment of the fact that we all make mistakes.
When we accept mistakes, and learn from them, our lives can be better.
Tomorrow, all imaginary lines will be shrugged aside to celebrate an event that is a significant part of the Hindu calendar.
Hindus will meet at temples, sing songs, make music and throw powder on each other, then move on to other people’s homes and share the fun and joy with them. We live in a country that is special.
In the face of the horrific killings of innocent people in Ukraine by the invading Russians for instance, such festivals remind us about who we are.
We are fun loving people. We value friendship and we live in a multiracial country.
In fact we have been living together in a country of many ethnicities and religions, far removed from the horrors of volatile nations of the world.
Fiji definitely needs such events to remind us about unity, peace and happiness, and to keep our people together!
