Dear Editor,

Contrary to less than two hundred years of Jesus Christ's teachings in Samoa about an imagined kingdom of heaven, I believe that kingdom is right here, where we were born, live and die. As John Lennon reminds us, there’s no heaven above nor hell below us. Just skies. The imagined kingdom is what we make of what we have, Earth. But confused and indecisive as we are on the kingdom’s precise location, Earth, as a consequence, is dying, and has been for some time.

As a young septuagenarian, a good morning or evening walk helps clear the rickety and cluttered mind. In recent weeks, my walks have included the mostly bushy farmlands of Tanumalala in ‘A’ana’s heartland. Sitting high and cooled by a constant wind, the area comes close to heaven. However, this week, the heaven walk was rudely assaulted by a sickening sight of a make-shift dump or a half-hearted attempt at a landfill. The attached images indicate a squeamish pocket of hell on Earth.

My immediate impulse was MNRE, but is this the right ministry? Instead, perhaps a whisper to Jesus' followers tasked with His Word (National Council of Churches) and the Mobs who make up words before they act (the Vaega fa’aupufai or political actors) who dominate the airwaves; please keep our lands and rivers as close as possible to being the kingdom of heaven on Earth.

MorganTuimaleali’ifano

Prison Road

Tanumalala