If I remember well, it was Edgar Allan Poe who wrote the story of a man that, horrified by the thought of what evil lurks behind the seemingly innocuous gaze of humanity as it passes him by walking down the busy streets of the city, decides to wall himself in his house.

Not that this provides him with any sense of safety. The thought worms in his mind that, even there, behind the bricked-up doors and windows of his house, they will eventually come to get him.

In the end, it’s not humanity with all its evil that kills him but his own paranoia.

Poe had a knack for the macabre but he knew something about human psychology. He was particularly sensitive to that sense of helplessness that we sometimes experience, when we feel naked and small and fearful and it is as if the world outside is baring its teeth, ready to pounce on us.

It usually happens when we find ourselves in the midst of a situation that overwhelms us, when we’re in the tunnel and there’s no sight of the light at the end of it. Helplessness begets fear and fear is an ugly beast.

No one wants to live their life in fear. Fearfulness is the same as living in a cage. One cannot exercise one’s freedom living in fear.

We are all fearful sometimes, which is alright and we can live with it; but we cannot be fearful all the time. We would either end up paranoid, like Poe’s character, or else we opt to live in perpetual forgetfulness. Some people think forgetfulness is a good defence mechanism, so they allow themselves to forget their fears.

The problem with forgetfulness is that it keeps you from addressing the source of your fears. In the end, forgetfulness might be as lethal as paranoia.

Fear originates from somewhere and there might be good reason to fear sometimes. Forgetting about fear, and about the source of fear, will not push away the cause of fear. It is living in a cage just the same.

What prompted me to write about fear was the terrible killing of a young woman by a bully. I am sure you have read about it. It was all over the news. The whole nation was shocked.

I wonder, however, what the public found so shocking about this terrible happening.  Was it the fact that there seems to be no logic that connects the sequence of events; or was it because the victim was a young woman, an innocent bystander who happened to be on her way home from her own birthday party; or was it the fact that she was killed by a bully?

Because if we are truly shocked that Pelin Kaya was killed by a bully, then we have a serious problem of forgetfulness in this country.

Sometimes, I get the feeling that this is a country of bullies. Sometimes, I start believing that if you aren’t a bully, in this country you have to live your life in constant fear.

I was going to write, “the moment you get out of your house” but then I realised that,  even if you remain within the confines of your house, you are liable to be abused by bullies.

It seems that the more inconsiderate you are towards others, the loudest and most arrogant, the most vicious and violent, the better you fare. Because if you are reasonable and well-mannered and you dare protest the bullying of others, you end up suffering more viciousness and hatred than before. And if you seek protection, that protection is lacking.

Sometimes, I get the feeling that this is a country of bullies- Aleks Farrugia

Yes, sometimes – no, many times – I get this feeling this is a country of bullies. On the road, in the neighbourhood, on the workplace, in a queue, at school, in the media, online – anywhere. Bullies.

Some are coke heads like the man who allegedly killed Kaya last week; others are white collar (which doesn’t exclude them being equally coke-heads); some are ħamalli, others puliti; some use physical abuse, others mental. Violence comes in multiple forms: some stand out, others look so ‘normal’ (and perhaps they are the worst).

Thing is, some (or many) of those bullies who don’t think of themselves to be such, were probably among the first ones to be shocked by a bully who looked the part that killed an innocent woman last week or some other time before that. Forgetfulness. That’s what it does to you.

The fact remains: the victims of bullying in this country packed with bullies are not protected, be they Maltese or not. There may be laws, and there can be the best laws in the world (not that there are), but it’s to no avail if those laws are not enforced or if bullies find the protection of some well-connected ‘saint’.

Yes, Magistrate Joe Mifsud, you’re right: the meek, the law-abiding, the honest, the good-hearted people in this country need to be protected. Your words were most welcome and this country needs people like you who use their position to advocate protection for those who need it.

But look around you, magistrate, and – hand on heart – don’t you feel lonely, taking the stand that you took? Aren’t the institutions themselves, the whole judicial edifice included, also part of the problem, perpetuating the idea that perhaps you’re better off being a bully than a decent person asking for one’s rights to be upheld?

Forgetfulness. We have a problem, what problem? Let’s turn our gaze elsewhere, distract ourselves to death.

Perhaps Poe was really onto something: had the protagonist of his story looked away, then perhaps he wouldn’t have seen the evil lurking behind the passive eyes of the crowd and he would have lived in ignorant bliss.

But, then, Poe wasn’t Maltese and his story wasn’t about Malta.