The photograph of the six-month-old Somali immigrant baby, in the arms of the German rescuer, that featured online and was distributed by the humanitarian organisation Sea-Watch to persuade European authorities to ensure safe passage to migrants, is another example of our failure, as a human family, to act on time.

The picture is, once more, appealing to all of us – in authority and ordinary citizens – to raise our voices, forget our differences and shout out loud and clear that we want action, now.

If only those protected arms holding the motionless body of the baby were stretched out by all of us  much earlier to prevent such tragedies from occurring.

If only European leaders forgot their individual interests and plunged wholeheartedly to the rescue of these fleeing migrants. If only the whole of humanity, rather than simply watching and staring in bewilderment, forced their leaders to take action, here and now.

Let our Maltese representatives, in various fora, keep harping and insisting, ceaselessly, on the need to take action and not simply pay lip-service and let us, as a people, irrespective of our differences, keep on appealing to one and all to stop this silent killer, which is eroding our sacred values.