There is a Reason and Season for
Everything under the Sun
LETTER TO THE EDITOR : Early March 1982, I noted my breadfruit tree, at our gate was bearing again when the last breadfruit season has just ended.
On numerous occasions’ years before, the CEOs of Agriculture, Treasury and Foreign Affairs were meeting often on how Samoa could get our breadfruit trees to bear fruits continually, season after season 6 or 7 times a year like the Hawaiian breadfruit trees.
The objective was for this tree of life to be continually supplying Samoans with plenty breadfruits to ensure we always have enough to eat.
We had earlier obtained samples of the Hawaiian Trees and planted them in Samoa.
But they all ended up behaving like our Samoa breadfruit trees, with only a few seasons a year.
So, the appearance of the new fruits after the current season has just ended was to me a great miracle.
Less than one year later in 1983, the first forest fires in Samoa occurred in Savaii lasting months before they were finally put out.
Then cyclones OFA 1990 and Valerie 1991 devastated our Country with damages in hundreds of millions Tala.
Climate Change was upon us.
The world knew the causes and the solutions, but the political courage amongst World Leaders to contain World Temperature at 1.5%, and stopped climate change was lacking.
Samoa, like many Countries, tried out many strategies to cut the rising cost of living that comes with climate change like introducing day light savings which we decided to implement in a two steps strategy taking into consideration that Samoa is near the equator and the change must be convenient and acceptable for our people to adapt to.
First, we shifted Governments working hours, to begin at 9am from 8am, it used to be from the Colonial Administration era.
Then secondly the 6-monthly shift of one hour forward in October and back again to normality in April the following year to coincide with the long and short days resulting from the movement of the earth around the sun, proved extremely beneficial to the more energetic farmers and Sports people to become more productive, besides saving electricity bills for the low-income families.
Travel Agents all over the World and international organizations alike attach great importance to daylight savings, for their advanced travel programs and vitally important daily communications to different parts of the world, must always be correct.
For time costs money.
The FAST Government leaders did not seem to try and understand the value of daylight savings, and so proceeded to cancel it, leaving only the Government working hours starting time continuing at 9am for very, very obvious reasons.
And, so for our proactive farmers and sportspeople, what can we do when those in charge do not know the wisdom in the words, “there is a good reason and season for everything under the sun”.
It seems too burdensome even to try and look at a possible reason behind the daylight savings!
Let us all pray unceasingly for the light to shine on to our leaders through the grace of our Lord to make them devote a minute each day of their 24 hours free time to try and understand why the sun shines some days, and why it never rises from the West.
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi : Leader of HRPP