Last week, we saw that almost 60 per cent of Maltese young people would rather live in another European country instead of their own. According to the survey, nine in 10 young people feel that Malta’s environment is getting worse and lay the blame on its seemingly uncontrollable construction industry.

Like all other “negative” news that doesn’t fit the “it’s always sunny in Malta” narrative, this will probably be swept under the rug, but it’s interesting to see that underneath the spin, cracks are starting to show. It’s just a pity things have had to get this ludicrous.

Have you, for example, seen the proposed plan for two new blocks of flats in Xlendi instead of the two existing restaurants at the water’s edge? I have, and it’s nothing short of an abomination. Sticking out like a hulking wolf at a sheep’s birthday party, they are a monument to unabashed, untethered greed.

I can’t imagine how anyone, anyone at all, could look at this eyesore and think it was a good idea. It’s just that bad. They don’t fit in, do nothing for the skyline. They literally look like they’ve been uprooted from Dubai and plonked clumsily in this once picturesque seaside village which is already struggling under the weight of an urban metropolisation it was never meant to carry.

And yet, people seem to have found less of a problem with this hippo at a ballet recital than they did with the second piece of news to come out of Gozo this week.

Wishing to send a message to people not to ignore foreigners in need, the Basilica of St George in Gozo had a portrait of Lassana Cisse Souleymane painted on one of the smaller domes in the side aisles. For anyone with more insight than a drunk parrot, the message should have been a clear one: the importance of loving thy neighbour and assisting him regardless of circumstance or colour. Yet again, it was literally like an open day at the zoo with everyone coming out of their cages to ask why a Maltese person wasn’t immortalised instead.

The choice of depicting Lassana was an intelligent and modern way to show the congregation what their attitude should be towards their brother. It’s not rocket science- Anna Marie Galea

Lassana is up there and Freddy the grocer isn’t because Lassana was shot like an animal (another thing we are great at) in what was allegedly a completely unprovoked attack by two of our soldiers, perhaps spurred by boredom and a profound xenophobic streak. Is your racism so deeply embedded that you are unable and unwilling to see the importance of having such a message depicted in an entity that preaches the importance of serving others?

Church ceilings have had teaching paintings on them as a way to communicate with believers for hundreds of years so that even if people couldn’t understand what was being said, they were at least able to look at the pictures and reflect. The choice of depicting Lassana was an intelligent and modern way to show the congregation what their attitude should be towards their brother. It’s not rocket science.

I’m often asked why my articles always end up being so negative, but the truth is that while things keep happening the way they are, and while we continue to grow only in terms of construction and roadworks, there will always be a need for things to be said by the very few still willing not to give up on this exhausting black hole of a land.

Stop trying to ignore all the signs as if you had another country to go back to; none of us do.