Let us start a revolution of beauty, tenderness and truth in Gozo. We should try to imitate the trees: change our leaves. In other words, change our direction, have new ideas but preserve sound principles.

I am not afraid to write what I think and what I feel at the bottom of my heart. What amazes me and what I fear is the horrible silence of the Gozitans. We would like to remain like diamonds, precious and rare, not like the stones found everywhere.

The more I get to know certain people, the more I understand why Noah only let animals on board the boat he built.

Did you ever read about the eruption and tragedy of the Vesuvius in Naples in the year 79? How were the Romans living?

And what about our dear Gozo?

We need an urgent change because we are losing our dignity. We are abandoning the roots of our past. We badly need to return to our roots.

“My integrity and uprightness protect me because my hope is in you, God” - Psalm 25:29. We need to be men with dreams, following the teachings of the Gospel and not of money and satisfaction.

I think even the stones of Ġgantija are protesting because of our poor attitude. Just drive from Victoria to Marsalforn: the road is horrible, not even good enough for cows and sheep.

The environment has lost its beauty, identity, dignity. The cowboys from America are now back, with construction in full swing in Marsalforn. Gozo has lost its therapeutic paradise. It is becoming a savage forest of horrendous buildings.

Look at how St Francis Square, in Victoria has been vandalised, ‘adorning’ it with black poles and cars everywhere. It has lost its identity and harmony, its character, its simplicity. Thank God for the new artistic monument of St Francis, a calming feature for those people who have to pass through there.

Across Gozo, the environment clamours for its right to be respected because of its contribution to harmony on the tiny island. The light, the space, the trees, the flowers, the valleys, the brooks, the hills, even the reflections of the sea, all of nature itself must be appreciated and preserved.

Dear Gozo minister, whatever happened to the famous fountains? Please, let’s have more fountains in Gozo.

Gozo is becoming too hectic and uninhabitable; there are too many people around. There is no harmony between space and the horrible buildings, whether meant for residents or tourists.

Niccolò Macchiavelli used to say: “First method of estimating a ruler is to look at the people he has around him.” If I shut up and walk away, it does not mean I have won, it simply means I am not worth my time anymore.

Beauty can also be seen in small and simple things like rubble walls, the blue sea, the wonderful churches. They cause emotions in the hearts of human beings who are always seeking harmony and peace. So every resident of Gozo has the responsibility to preserve the rustic harmony brought about by the enormous sacrifices and love of our forefathers, who went into so much detail.

We are on a mission to destroy what we have inherited, also with the blessing of people in power- Fr Charles Cini

And you who visit Gozo, respect our small island. We are all responsible and should acknowledge what is there for everyone to see. The truth will always remain truth, even if depicted as a lie or is not acceptable to all.

Countries are usually very proud of their history and strive to preserve it. In Gozo, however, we are on a mission to destroy what we have inherited, also with the blessing of people in power.

The Gozitan population, I fear, is in deep sleep, counting the money, instead of sheep, and becoming insensible to losing their identity as Gozitans. We have to keep in mind that beauty, created by God, belongs to all.

It seems to me we are in a horrible stage, declaring war against history and the past, to applause by the “vandals”.

I hear our forefathers, guided by Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis and many past intellectuals, shouting from their tombs and condemning us: “Who gave you the authority to destroy the island of Calypso?”

The vote the Gozitans gave you, dear minister, is not a permission to destroy Gozo and eliminate its beauty and harmony. So, please, stop and reflect: what we are doing to Gozo now did not even happen during WWII. We should not be blinded by the love for money. We must cease this horrible disaster.

I finish with a quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn: “In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it and will rise up a thousandfold in the future.

“When we neither punish nor reproach evil chores, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”

We may not think of God or even pronounce His name. But if we disseminate kindness, if we smile generating joy and happiness, if we help without expecting anything in return, if we work for justice and peace even unknowingly, then we would have done the most important profession of faith. After all, God sent His son to save the world not to condemn it.

Sowing and cultivating good has now become an urgent matter. However, we are hard-headed people.

“Grey hair is a crown of splendour; it is attained by a righteous life” - Proverbs 16.31