IN the past, we have said you cannot keep a good country down.
Zimbabwe continues to shine, recording heartwarming positives amidst challenges that could have broken others.
Some of us will celebrate every single success we record; that is who we are.
Some will deliberately choose to overlook our successes, treating them like non-events.
We hear that economic targets for this year will be met.
Government has taken full advantage of the prevailing stable macro-economic environment, high international mineral and commodity prices and the improved past agricultural season.
Our richly endowed country is steadily and strongly emerging from a decade of battering by illegal sanctions.
The sanctions are yet to be removed, but homegrown solutions are extricating our nation from an economic malaise that threatened to cripple us.
These successes are also a victory against forces that have sought our demise or rather the demise of the system that has fought tooth-and-nail to preserve and protect our heritage from invaders who remain relentless in their efforts to subvert our gains.
In the last decade, we have had no kind words or thoughts from Europe and America.
The UK and its cousin, the US, have not been objective where Zimbabwe is concerned.
Our spade has been called by any other names but never a spade.
However, we shall not lose sleep if the West refuses to recognise the positives we are recording; we know our worth and will deal and interact with those who respect us as a sovereign state.
The most important story is that this country has vast potential. But sadly, some in our midst, our very own people, are failing to appreciate all the good taking place.
As the owners of the country, we must not wait for outsiders to validate our worth.
It is the duty of every Zimbabwean to appreciate and value what the country has.
True ownership of resources is rooted in knowledge of that which is owned.
I have heard disturbing sentiments, voices whispering that there is no value in that which is in the ground; it is of no use to us as long as it remains under.
I can only imagine that such statements are borne of ignorance, for if we know the worth of that which is in the ground we will act accordingly, we will value it and protect it.
Failure to exploit must not mean we must forfeit
All it takes to exploit, on our part, might just be knowledge.
If we know, we will not be cheated or taken advantage of.
It is time that, as a nation, we treat ourselves right and love ourselves the same way outsiders love this country.
It is a shame to find outsiders waxing lyrical about our land while we have nothing good to say about it.
Zimbabwe is much more than its mineral resources.
We must value our land.