A moment for an ode to joy

In the first five books of the Old Testament the people of God were ordered to lay off their actual professional work every seven-year period for one year. They had to stop working for one year, reflect on what was being done, then a year after continue with their travail. It was called a sabbatical, hence the word.

Practically a year ago, I lost my seat in parliament; a year later here I am re-elected, wiser for the experience. It was a year which, as all other years, opened my eyes in many matters. I had the time to think about my vocation in life, to ponder providence, to look at the workings of the government from the outside, to realise and distinguish those who were my good friends and those who were just acquaintances and, above all, to appreciate better the sodality with my family.

It was a very hard year; nonetheless, I am the better for it. I re-enter parliament at a time of changes, changes which I myself had fought for. New faces, new PM, new posts, new positions in the EU, new politics. The politics we have been used to for so long has now passed away. Look, a new way of making politics has been created! Malta's accession to the EU on May 1 has opened up a new window into our political life. The way we do politics, the themes, the emphasis, the agenda have changed drastically. We need more real dialogue, more networking, more collegiality so to speak.

The Maltese people have changed too. They look to their politicians for some fresh air (literally) and ideas. The environment has assumed its real importance in the socio-economic affairs of man. So will issues dealing with life!

There will be challenges which the Maltese electorate has never even in its wildest imagination dreamt it will have to tackle. If independence signalled the start of our political growth, surely our joining the EU signifies our entry into adulthood.

We are now no longer able to hide our economic or social woes under the cape of social structures forced to fork everyone out of deliberate, careless or short-sighted troubles. Our actions have to be measured up against the accepted praxis of other countries. Our products and services have to be able to stand on their own two feet. Our thoughts have to be sieved through with the thoughts of others and accepted on their own merits or found deficient and rejected.

The issue of globalisation has knocked at our door and we are ready for it, to receive it, to assimilate it and to move ahead. This is the real McCoy, for our country, for our people.

This past year has seen the fruit of the work of generations coming to a head. We have added the final preparations to the economy, to the social structures, to the cultural and the environmental milieux. The basic necessities have been established, much remains to be done, but we have given the present and future generations a gift and opened up opportunities that would otherwise be closed and lost forever.

All that now remains is to take the first step and actualise all the potentials present. Man with his mind and his work must change that potential into a reality. The Nationalist Party has the honour and the merited right of again leading the country at this momentous time. Merited because it was its vision that has carried the country to the doorstep of EU membership. Were it for others, our steps on May 1, 2004, would not be happening. An opportunity lost forever.

During this past year, I had the opportunity of finishing reading a number of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's books. This great mystic of the Church and great scientist, who has not yet been accorded by the Church - or by science for that matter - his due greatness, had pre-empted globalisation by at least 70 years. In one of his last books which he wrote before dying on Easter Sunday in 1955, he wrote: "I feel pity for those (in the world) who take fright at the span of a century or those whose love is bounded by the frontiers of a nation". He disliked people or organisations whose view of man and life was narrowed by partisan, national or even by the constraints of time and space. He wanted man to be able to go beyond that and seek our real cause of evolving union.

I believe that the PN has been able, notwithstanding the innumerable obstacles, to do just that for the benefit of all the people of the Maltese nation of whatever political creed.

Let us all savour this moment with all its joys and difficulties. A moment for an ode to joy.