“A new nation was being born. It symbolized
the fact that a new order was coming into being and an old order was passing
away. So I was deeply concerned about it. I wanted to be involved in it, be a
part of it, and notice the birth of this new nation with my own eyes.
I could hear people shouting all over that
vast audience, ‘Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!’
Before I knew it, I started weeping. I was
crying for joy. And I knew about all of the struggles, all of the pain, and all
of the agony that these people had gone through for this moment.
These are the words of civil rights
activist Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr on his visit to Ghana for the
celebration of its independence from Great Britain in 1957.
On the final day of the Hong Kong Sevens
tournament, before the final match, the nation and almost every Fijian living
abroad, such as myself, saw the emotion in our national team as the national
anthem was sung. As is tradition for my circle of friends, we always stand for
the anthem, hands on our hearts. Usually it’s our patriotic gesture. Sometimes,
it’s just in the spirit of the tournament. I think that it is an emotional
moment for us too.
Those few weeks ago, in my dormitory
room, as my roommate watched me in amazement, I stood in front of my little
screen with my white t-shirt and sang along with the team, tears rolling down
my face.
When my roommate asked me what I was doing,
I realised what it might have looked like, especially as I had been wearing
headphones the whole time.
However it wasn’t just the emotion of the
team and the song that brought me to tears. I had remembered that our national
anthem isn’t just a song. It is a prayer; a petition to God for blessings for
our nation. We ask God to make us one people, we pledge to defend the cause of
freedom ever. We ask God to make our nation a land of freedom, hope and glory
and to help us endure whatever may befall us, whatever we may go through.
I remember some five years ago, at a World
Council of Churches meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, a choir from Soweto came
and sang to our group. They concluded their performance by singing the South
African national anthem, beginning in the Xhosa and Zulu languages with the
famous “Nkosi Sekelel' iAfrika.” was composed in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a
Methodist school teacher, originally as a church hymn but later became an act
of political defiance against the apartheid Government.
Many in my group had prayed, lobbied, or
protested for the end of apartheid in South Africa and knew this song as a
protest song, listened to with a fist in the air out of solidarity. To hear
this hymn in South Africa, sung by South Africans as their national anthem was
a deeply moving experience, with most of the group in tears.
Rev. Dr. King, in his biography, described
the moment after the first prime minster of Ghana made his speech:
“...we could hear little children six years
old and old people eighty and ninety years old walking the streets of Accra
crying: ‘Freedom! Freedom!’ They were crying it in a sense that they had never
heard it before. And I could hear that old Negro spiritual once more crying
out: ‘Free at last, free at last, Great God Almighty, I'm free at last.’ They
were experiencing that in their very souls. And everywhere we turned, we could
hear it ringing out from the housetops. We could hear it from every corner,
every nook and crook of the community. ‘Freedom! Freedom!’ This was the
breaking loose from Egypt.”
As I reflected on the words of our anthem,
three questions drifted into my consciousness. Whose freedom? Whose hope? Whose
glory?
Some would argue that we could just say,
“Fiji”.
However, we cannot honestly answer these
questions so simply as long as the words “people” and “power” only come
together in sentences about electricity.
In a sermon not long after his trip to
Ghana, Rev. Dr. King said, “It seems this morning that I can hear God speaking.
I can hear him speaking throughout the universe, saying, ‘Be still and know
that I am God. And if you don't stop, if you don't straighten up, if you don't
stop exploiting people, I'm going to rise up and break the backbone of your
power. And your power will be no more!’"
Empowerment must come for all parts of the
community, in every community.
According to King, “When I hear,
"People aren't ready," that's like telling a person who is trying to
swim, "Don't jump in that water until you learn how to swim." When
actually you will never learn how to swim until you get in the water.
People have to have an opportunity to develop themselves and govern themselves.”
We cannot answer “Fiji” as long as those of
us who have neglect those who have lost everything or as long as our words do
not match our actions.
Dr. King once said, “Never, never be afraid
to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at
stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our
soul when we look the other way.”
Each of us needs to do what is right not
only for the good of our friends, families, and neighbours, but for our own
souls.
We need to believe in and live out the
prayer we sing as our national anthem.
Otherwise it is just a song.
“Simplicity, Serenity, Spontaneity”.
(ENDS)
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