I’m completely exhausted, emotionally and physically spent. I literally cannot believe the week this country has had, and yet, there always seems to be more waiting around the corner. What started as a failed great escape has now evolved into something much deeper and a hell of a lot darker.
Something I have to admire about the Maltese (and at this point there’s very little that I would willingly associate myself with) is their consistency. Nine times out of 10, they will always act exactly the same way as they have before. An example of this is when they receive shocking news that shakes their belief system.
When this happens, they spend two days in almost mute-like silence (but not for one second admitting that they were wrong) and then on the third day, Phoenix-like, they simply revert to their previous mantra.
My best friend Daniel is convinced that many of them are under some kind of hypnosis that gets re-triggered with a particular photo or catchphrase. I just think the education most of us have received is simply too superficial and shallow for it to have been able to surpass the damage done to us by our often ignorant, narrow-minded families.
This is truly not the time for political colour, unless that colour is black
Whatever the reason, the two main parties last week decided that in the midst of all this chaos and disaster, they would hold two mass meetings, because you know, why not party like it’s 1995 in North Korea while the country burns?
A few hours after the announcement was made, the entirely tone-deaf Nationalist Party, which clearly has no plans to be re-elected in the next decade, decided to cancel their grotesque celebration, and finally, on Friday afternoon, the Labour Party decided to see some sense and cancel too.
After all, what do we indeed have to celebrate? The open erosions of our institutions? The immeasurable blemish caused to our international reputation? The disgusting way in which our journalists have been treated? The death of the bravest one of them all?
The list goes on and on, but what remains most shocking is the fact that even after all this, there is still a huge number of people defending the indefensible and pledging allegiances like some two-bit Knights of the Round Table.
It’s fascinating to think that when the Panama Papers scandal broke three years ago, many people quite openly didn’t care, and some even condoned it. It’s incredible to watch this in a supposedly democratic country, and even worse to live with.
It’s hard to know where we go from here, a country on its knees in the eyes of the rest of the world, but which has thus far refused to stop dancing to a tune that is only playing in its head. We now know that we can’t even trust our doctors to do the right thing.
By the time this goes to print, God only knows what else would have come out, what fresh hell many of the people who just want truth and justice will be facing. This is truly not the time for political colour, unless that colour is black.