LIKE every nation on the planet, we are afflicted with shortcomings.
In the face of that though are positive developments and special factors that differentiate nations of the world.
Fiji is without a doubt, a lovely nation to live in.
Today we have another opportunity to reflect on this special day, and hopefully we will embrace a nation we all call home.
Whatever your take is on this day, we hope you will value it for what it truly means, and consider the impact of this day back in 1970.
We hope you will consider what this day stands for, and how our young nation has developed.
Today is a very special day for Fijians.
We celebrate our independence from Great Britain.
Despite all our flaws, we can still be a beacon of hope for others.
We have an opportunity to reflect on how we have fared over the decades.
We have a chance to relive history, and relive the joy of becoming an independent nation.
In the face of the many imaginary demarcation lines that exist in our country, we are still able to cut right through them, casting aside differences in religion, ethnicity and gender.
We live in a country brimming with people from different walks of life who make up our multi-racial population.
Today should be about who we are, and we should acknowledge how we live together in peace and harmony despite our many differences.
We celebrate our identity as people who have grown up together, and with great pride and patriotism.
Today is about Fiji.
Let’s remind ourselves about the fact that we share this beautiful country with over 850,000 other people.
We share many thoughts.
For instance, we are sports crazy people.
We rejoice every time our sevens rugby team wins at international level competitions.
We cheered for the Flying Fijians against the top teams at the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
We beamed with great pride when we rocked the Australian Wallabies at Sapporo in our opener, and we hit rock bottom as a nation when we succumbed to Uruguay the very next week.
Then we bounced back with enthusiasm when the Flying Fijians defeated Georgia last week.
Yesterday we united behind the Flying Fijians when they took on the might of the Six Nations champions Wales in our final RWC pool game.
As a nation, we unite to celebrate our achievements.
The golden win at the 2016 Olympic Games by the national 7s team united us and gave us a reason to bask in the limelight, and be joyful and full of cheer.
We are friendly people.
We love many things about our country even though we take a lot of things for granted.
Let’s continue to put aside our differences and dedicate ourselves to lifting our nation to great heights.
We can make a difference.
United, we have the power to build a better Fiji together, for ourselves and for our future generations.
We may not be free of negative vibes, but we have shown resilience and evolved over the years.
The Fiji Times is committed to aiding in the development of our nation.
Let us celebrate today and mean what we say when we call ourselves Fijians.
We wish all our readers a happy, safe and memorable Fiji Day wherever you are in the world.
