Opinion
'Bring the road toll down, pledge to not drink and drive'
Tuesday 2 September 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor ‘Stop Visual Pollution’ please stop the verbal diarrhoea.
$150,000 is nothing in the grand scheme of things to run our National College and hope that they can produce results
Tuesday 2 September 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Olivia Heather, a local businesswoman, mother and Chartered Account was born and raised in Rarotonga and is a product of our education system.
Kata: Why Pacific Islanders are so big...
Tuesday 2 September 2014 | Published in Kata
Greypower home grown terrorism?
Tuesday 2 September 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
I read in CI News a week ago that Greypower is regrouping and getting ready to march on Parliament when it resumes, but this time to terrorise both CIP and Demo politicians and not just CIP!
Steps to living a purposeful life
Tuesday 2 September 2014 | Published in Virtues in Paradise
Have you ever looked out over the waves of the sea, or gazed up at a night sky filled with countless stars, and wondered, “Why am I here?” One can feel so small, it is hard to believe that each of us is a special being created by God for this time and this place – each of us unique, each with our own song to sing as we pass through this world. Were you one of those kids who never wanted to miss anything? Who didn’t want to go to sleep if the family was doing anything remotely interesting? I was. And now in my elderhood, I haven’t changed. I don’t want to miss a single spiritual assignment the Creator has ordained for me. I don’t want to overlook even one Teachable Moment. I recently heard a well-respected elder say, rather sadly: “I have lived a long time. I’m about to retire, yet I still don’t know what my purpose is.” It is not uncommon to wonder about this or to feel lost if we haven’t discerned our purpose at any given season. When Alice was lost in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat said: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” We are told in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven”.I remember my Sunday School teacher saying that when she was a child the age I was then – about six years old – she wrote a letter to a spiritual leader of our faith. She wrote, “Beloved Master, why are we here? Love, Ruhiyyih” Soon, she received a letter from him. It said, “Beloved Ruhiyyih, we are here to acquire the virtues of the Kingdom. Love, Abdu’l Baha” It seems to me that the ability to stay deeply present to our own lives and to recognise whatever task or virtue we are called to in a given day or season, depends on detaching from the distractions that can trip us up or keep us literally out of our minds. The Holy Bible speaks of two major traps which can keep us from our purpose: being double-minded and being double-hearted. We must trust in God’s guidance and watch out for the dangers of doubt: “...one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind... he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways,” James 1 6-8. Another dangerous distraction is to leave the holy ground of truthfulness and to speak, as the saying goes, out of both sides of our mouth. “They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak,” Psalm 12:2. We need to have faith that we can be guided to know our purpose, as long as we stay scrupulously honest. Discerning our purpose at each season of life begins with simply asking, “and it shall be given,” Mathew 7:7. Once we have a sense of our calling, the key to accomplishing it is to focus our whole mind and heart on it: “So long as the thoughts of an individual are scattered he will achieve no results, but if his thinking be concentrated on a single point, wonderful will be the fruits thereof…Thus is it necessary to focus one's thinking on a single point so that it will become an effective force.” (Selected Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 111). Buddhism teaches the power of “single-pointed concentration”. I recently heard a message in meditation which has been very helpful: “Don’t judge what is big or what is small in what you do.” Perhaps one small act of kindness to an intimate or a stranger is more luminous in God’s eyes than completing what appears to us to be a very big job.Steps to living a truly purposeful life are:1. Pray and reflect on what your purpose is at this time in your life with faith that the answers will be given to you. 2. Avoid the traps of double-minded doubt and double-hearted deception.3. Don’t scatter your energies in too many directions. Stay focused and single-minded. 4. Do one thing at a time, whole-heartedly and mindfully.5. Be aware of the virtues in the way you think, speak, and act. Yes, this is a tall order. Yet, it holds the keys to the Kingdom.
Police sign is visual pollution
Monday 1 September 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, The two enormous digital signs on trailers parked outside the Arorangi police station and in front of the police station in town look ugly and do not suit our island way of life.
Recycle Raro first?
Monday 1 September 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,Driving the back road I noticed the old junk yard which was a recycling depot at one stage is being cleared.
Te Akatawa – a culture of sharing
Saturday 30 August 2014 | Published in Return to Pukapuka
I woke up this morning to the sound of singing and the pate calling us all for a cup of tea.
'Disgusted' with lack of education spending
Saturday 30 August 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I am really disgusted the way we are not funding education – look at the principal’s letter about the woeful funding to education.
Praise for hospital staff
Friday 29 August 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, While most letters to the editor are pointing out problems in our country (and usually with some justification), may I take this opportunity to pass on some praise to the staff at the Rarotonga Hospital.
Museum gives thanks for canoe
Friday 29 August 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, On behalf of our society may I take this opportunity to publicly thank Bill Doherty, a keen supporter of the Library & Museum, for his kind donation of a three-man Pukapukan vaka built in Pukapuka recently, which was transported by ship to Rarotonga.
Kata: Car crash
Friday 29 August 2014 | Published in Kata
First Pukapuka vaka donated
Thursday 28 August 2014 | Published in Return to Pukapuka
The first traditional Pukapukan vaka to be made in at least 30 years arrived in Rarotonga this week.
Why stop a much-needed competitor?
Thursday 28 August 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I recall a recent list of fuel prices in the Pacific and the fuel price in the Cook Islands is the second highest by a huge margin.
Kata: Government budget
Thursday 28 August 2014 | Published in Kata
'May your seas be forever sacred'
Thursday 28 August 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, While on our truly idyllic honeymoon in Rarotonga, we were very lucky to attend Monday’s opening of the Marae Moana information hub.
'You are tucked in our hearts'
Wednesday 27 August 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, To the people of the Cook Islands – we have spent three months here in your beautiful country, in Rarotonga with visits to Aitutaki and Atiu.
Bank loans 'dished out willy-nilly'
Wednesday 27 August 2014 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, without pointing the finger at any particular commercial bank in the Cook Islands, it concerns me greatly when I learn that a certain bank is willing to provide a $170,000 housing mortgage to a couple with four very young children when the total annual income of that same family/household would be in the vicinity of $45,000.
Kata: Foreign competition
Wednesday 27 August 2014 | Published in Kata
Smokies: Dogs killing economy?
Tuesday 26 August 2014 | Published in Smoke Signals
We love the Rarotonga culture but would not be keen on a return visit due to the incessant dog barking at night.
« Previous 1 … 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 … 657 Next »