Whither Malta?

So there we have it. Contrary to prediction, my own included, L-Istrina did not reach the targeted Lm1 million. There could be many reasons for this; a malaise about the way things are being run in Malta, world affairs being what they are or simply because people's Maltacom bills, what with appeals from political parties and other fundraisers, are simply becoming too unmanageably large to fit comfortably within an ever-shrinking family budget. Be that as it may, the amount actually collected on Boxing Day was indeed impressive all things considered.

This, however, is not really what I have set out to discuss. Rumour has it that an e-mail was being circulated to boycott L-Istrina because part of the funds is being donated to the Jesuit Refugee Service. I sincerely hope that this was totally unfounded but I have heard it mooted from so many quarters in the past week that I am seriously alarmed. This is worse than xenophobia. Whoever originated this e-mail is irresponsible to put it mildly.

We are in duty bound as Christians to do all that we can to alleviate the pain and anguish of our fellow men of whatever colour or creed. Failing this we fail in the most fundamental of Christian ethics. Although illegal immigration is a national problem it is also one that we must bear collectively as what these people are running away from is unimaginable. As Christians we simply cannot shirk the responsibility.

While we were glued to our TV sets on Boxing Day the first trickle of news from South East Asia hit our shores. By now you have no doubt all exhausted and distressed yourselves watching the harrowing international newsreels of the catastrophic natural disaster that has devastated a third of the planet. In a matter of seconds a series of tidal waves generated from one of the strongest earthquakes in the last 100 years washed over Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, Bangladesh and Somalia. Nobody knows for sure even now how many people have been wiped off the face of the earth in one fell swoop. Mother Nature is angry. We have been abusing her for centuries and with a mere sneeze and a hiccup she reminded us in no uncertain terms who's the boss.

It seemed absolutely impossible to imagine that from Indonesia the tsunamis actually scudded across the Pacific for over 5,000 kilometres to the shores of Kenya and Somalia from where, ironically, most of our so-called illegal immigrants hail.

The world is responding and so must we. We are all in the same boat; today it's them, maybe tomorrow, God preserve us, it may be us. We are not privileged beings. We live in a seismic zone too. We therefore have no right to profess or have any sympathy for racist creeds that from time to time raise their ugly heads throughout our planet's sad history. These creeds are the personification of evil. As we clearly saw, despite our technology and power we are as weak as newly born kittens when compared to the infinite forces of nature.

The time for giving is indeed now. I am sure that there will be a national appeal to alleviate the sufferings and assuage the losses of all those thousands if not millions of people like ourselves who have been directly or indirectly affected by the disaster. This is the time to stand up and be counted by digging deep into our pockets without counting the cost and forgetting our usually rather depleted January budgets. This is a world tragedy and we must not fail to respond to it like we always have. We Maltese have big hearts and limitless resourcefulness; how else would we have survived and thrived throughout the millennia of colonialism as well as we did?

Therefore when transfixed to the box watching the coverage of rows upon rows of little children whose lives have been so cruelly wrenched away from them, just think that they could also be our own. Think about how we will all be called to account one day. Remember that if we are real Christians, we must believe that Christ is there in all those who have lost everything. There is no need to ask Him when we clothed him or gave him to eat; it's as plain as the nose on your face. We don't have to look further than our living rooms anymore to witness a suffering humanity; a planet shredded and torn by war and terrorism and a civilisation that has grown too big for its boots.

kzt@onvol.net