The coronavirus has put Malta in tilt. People were seen hastily empting shelves seemingly to bunker themselves for months on end. This was done without fairness or justification while leaving many others without the possibility to acquire what they really need. Did these panic-stricken people think of mothers with babies, the old and lonely who cannot run and hurry, families who cannot budget beyond one week?
Malta suddenly became aware that its well-being is not that secure. And it fell into fear, into anxiety.
These events recalled a situation in which a friend of mine, a veteran of scuba diving, once told me. He teaches those entrusted to his care that in order to conquer an eventual anxiety attack under water, they have to stop, to breathe, to think, and then, to act. The recent frenzy in our Maltese society showed the contrary. Many acted without much thinking, they ran out of breath, without stopping to reflect on that which matters most. Excessive anxiety may lead to undesirable results.
The events in a particular supermarket are quite significant: a lady was choosing a particular hair product specifically catered for her medical condition, and a gentleman, without much consideration, grasped the same product filling his already-loaded carrier. It is highly probable that he was not aware of the specificity of the product, but that mattered not, as long as he appeased his anxiety, in the naïve belief that his immediate future is secured!
Malta suddenly became aware that its well-being is not that secure
Anxiety does not only affect the physical or the psychological aspects of our lives. That a baby cries instinctively if facing a fire, or that one is afraid of heights despite standing on solid ground are examples of a physical and psychological anxiety. However, anxiety may undermine our existential well-being. When we feel insecure, groping in the dark hoping to find meaning, dislocated from our own past, and clueless on our future, we may behave erratically, possibly irrationally.
It seems that man, in search of freedom, is becoming a slave; longing for power and feeling defeated, and craving for wealth, he discovers himself even poorer. Could this be a clearer proof that we have missed the point?
Man has to eviscerate the egoistic self from himself to find his true self, to identify the deeper meaning of life, to live and not only to exist. Man is afraid of death while not realising that, without love, he is already dead in many forms and ways.
The coronavirus has unfortunately revealed that there exists a much more harmful virus to our society, namely the ‘ego virus’. A virus, which is not only diluting the social milieu, but like all viruses, if not taken care of, will destroy our common well-being, transforming a thriving society into a necropolis of sorts.
The antidote which can serve as an effective vaccine to the ‘ego virus’ is the love towards the neighbour – the golden principle that stems from every respectful religion. For us Christians, it is the core of Jesus’s teachings: love your neighbour as yourself. The most direct way of knowing God is to practise unconditional love towards one’s neighbour.
The question arises naturally: who is my neighbour? The Italian word ‘prossimo’ sheds more light on its true meaning: the one next to me. Independently of gender, race, nationality, social or financial status, kin or otherwise, anyone can be my neighbour.
A relationship akin to a tripod: God – I – Brother, assures that our society is built on solid ground. It will be a place where every individual feels that he is an essential part of a family, where the periphery dissolves itself into the centre, where the value of love surpasses one’s financial worth.
This may, perhaps, lead society to a point where its efforts to eradicate the novel virus will be more genuine and less geared on the egoistic self-preservation attempts which has led some of us to behave in an almost tragic-comedic way.
Rev Dr Joseph Zammit is ecclesiastical judge