Brutal attack

A few days from the alleged assault on a Somali national at Mġarr Harbour, I remain completely indignant about the unravelling of events that took place on that night. A foreigner was repeatedly attacked by a gang of 15 men and, eventually, another ‘hero’ lashed out at a defenceless person and threw him into the sea, ignoring any fatal consequences.

And, to crown it all, we find a crowd of 100 cheering people! This, I believe, is the behaviour of savages.

Are we going back 2,000 years when defenceless people were brutally killed in an arena amid cheering crowds?

On the other hand, around these times, our Maltese population had welcomed foreigners wrecked at sea. It was the start of a new civilisation, the one that Jesus gave His life for.

I would like to publicly thank the persons who witnessed this brutality and had the nerve not only to speak out but to testify in court as well. We absolutely need to stop this hatred against people who are different from us. As a nation, we are all surely better than this.

Rita Debono – Kappara

Canada vaccine certificates

I thank Times of Malta for the opportunity to write about Malta’s COVID restrictions with regards to vaccine certificates. Well, it’s very sad that they do not accept our certificate here in Ontario, Canada.

I have been living in Canada for my whole life and have to say we are so fortunate to have a great medical system and have done extremely well with the administration of the vaccines. I have taken both doses of the Moderna vaccine.

I am a Maltese citizen and have my Maltese passport; I have been coming to Malta for many years as do my adult children along with their children. I have not seen my parents, who are elderly, 88 and 90, for two years and we just miss each other. Prior to the pandemic, I visited them every summer for about five years due to their age.

Please, fix the rules so we can visit family there. I am sure I am not the only one in this situation.

Regina Xerri – Ontario, Canada

Pro-choice issue 

Tony Mifsud, in his substance-free letter on July 22, said it is “reassuring to know that Malta has professional organisations to help women… who are misled and pressured by the pro-choice lobby, especially Doctors for Choice – the tragic irony – to do abortions”.

Doctors for Choice, or any other pro-choice organisation,  for that matter, does not pressure anyone to have an abortion. That is why we are pro-choice – in favour of the choice of the pregnant woman. Our mission is to advocate and educate, to allow women and girls in Malta to make their own choices without being coerced or misled. Whether or not a pregnant woman decides to continue with her pregnancy should be her own decision to make, not ours or Mifsud’s or anyone else’s.

The same cannot be said for the “professional organisations” Mifsud is most likely referring to. It is well known that “pro-life” organisations in Malta exaggerate to women to prevent them from accessing abortion or using morning-after pills. That is where women are being misled and not by pro-choice organisations.

Pro-choice organisations such as ours provide factual, evidence-based information on reproductive healthcare, including how to access safe abortion, and we make no apology for that. The health, well-being, and emancipation of women in Malta are our priorities. And the latter is what bothers people like Mifsud so much.

Christopher Barbara, Obo Doctors for Choice – St Julian’s

Final passage

No matter how much we try to avoid it, a time will come when we have to leave this world for good. It will surely happen but we do not know when. So, it is wise to prepare for it.

St Ephraim the Syrian gives us a wise suggestion: “Resolve to step upon the path that is strait and sorrowful and labour in silence, that when the hour of death and departure comes thou wilt not be found unprepared.”

Doing what is right and just at the cost of suffering is really worth it. After all, we shall reap what we have sown.

So, let us prepare.

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap – Marsa

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