Letters to the editor - August 10, 2021

Bonaparte’s chirograph

Charles Xuereb (August 2) brags about the fact that it was he who, earlier this year, published for the first time Napoleon’s chirograph donating St John’s conventual Church in Valletta to the Bishop of Malta.

In my book Storja tal-Knisja f’Malta, number 42 in the series Kullana Kulturali published by PIN, this important document of June 13, 1798 is reproduced and commented upon on page 181.

This book, that soon went out of print, was published in 2002.

Joseph Bezzina – Victoria

Tribute to dear departed Common Sense

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Today, we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm, life isn’t always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned though overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.   

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement by the courts.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion, his daughter, Responsibility, and his son, Reason. He is survived by his four stepbrothers: I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame and I’m A Victim.

Not many attended the funeral of Common Sense because so few realised he was gone.

I mourn his passing.

Terry Bate – Għajnsielem 

Contemptuous

I refer to Jerome Caruana Cilia’s letter of August 5, where he regrets that Daphne Caruana Galizia will never be back. God forbid.

She was a scurrilous writer. Some have tried to make a saint of her but saints have pity for those who deserve it, even for those who do not. So we are taught.

Instead, Caruana Galizia mocked them, even making fun of their physical infirmities.

Can anything be more contemptuous or pitiless than that?

Roger Mifsud – Rabat

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