There must be a term for when you’re so fed up with your country that you start to feel homesick and nostalgic for something that no longer exists or perhaps never really existed anyway.

The more I am forced to leave the house to do the basics, the more time I spend wishing I was safely back home. It’s not just the traffic, the endless loop of roadworks and the noise; it’s the people.

When I am out and about, I have never seen so many look angry, upset, stressed or a wonderful mixture of all three. The problem is, it’s one thing to be angry because our services are injected with lethargy and inefficiency, and everything feels like a massive waste of time, and it’s quite another to be angry because you think you’re entitled to different treatment than everyone else.

I’ve seen this time and time again in the small things and the big. People cutting into lines when you’ve been patiently waiting your turn for hours, drivers only joining the lane they intended to take at the last possible moment so they don’t have to wait behind others, customers fighting at the supermarket because they feel they have more of a right to something than someone who already has the item in their hands. And, in the past years, it’s only gotten worse.

We were never great with common courtesy but now it’s gotten to a point where anyone could be beaten up for carrying out their duty.

If leading by example were an Olympic sport, authorities would surely earn a gold medal – for all the wrong reasons- Anna Marie Galea

I won’t go into the video splashed all over social media last weekend of a group of individuals laying into two police officers who were allegedly just doing their job but I will say this: if we have come to a point where it’s seemingly okay to attack the police, what does that say about our country? Or, perhaps, the more pertinent question is: How are we meant to take the law seriously when everyone around us flouts it and gets away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist?

Think about it: when was the last time that anyone in power was really punished for something they did? I’m not talking about the homeless man taken to court for stealing a can of tuna (yes, I haven’t forgotten about that); I’m talking about the musical chairs of high-paying government jobs when scandals happen; I’m talking about ministers managing to hold onto their careers even after being embroiled in suspicious dealings; I’m talking about the years and years of bail given to those who should be safely locked away.

In a country hellbent on giving everyone a second, third, fourth and fifth chance even though no reparation or admittance of misconduct is ever made, is it any wonder that those in the wrong are now not only no longer feeling shame for their errors of judgement but are instead going around and gaslighting everyone else into thinking that they are in some way cruel and unchristian for expecting justice?

Authorities don’t only represent their country; citizens look to their lives and decisions to help them mould their own. And if leading by example were an Olympic sport, they’d surely earn a gold medal – for all the wrong reasons.