Give or take the odd exception, one of which sadly involved a newspaper journalist trying to pull off a silly scoop that will certainly earn him no place in history, the episode of Dr Alfred Sant’s sudden hospitalisation and eventual surgical intervention were happily absorbed in a great show of national unity and a great sense of decency the likes of which we very rarely witness on this island. It goes to show that we can, when we want to and when the need arises, act like the mature nation that we pretend to be.

For all our social ills, our parochial pettiness and political peccadilloes, we do after all have the ability to show solidarity at difficult moments and to overcome and ignore the primeval scream we still hear, whether we want to or not, in each and every one of us when it comes to dealing with political issues and political figures.

It is sad to realise that we only seem to muster it when such profoundly difficult personal circumstances occur or when, as happens annually during the Yuletide charity campaigns, it is time again to show our solidarity with the poor, the underprivileged and the disabled. But what if we show this support and solidarity in our everyday lives?

What if, for example, we dare think in clearer terms as regards the hundreds of irregular immigrants that we have camped and cowering in the bitter winter cold and stop treating them like some sort of tribal villains who have risked life and limb to cross over from the blood-stained continent of Africa in search of a better future for them and their families?

What if in our everyday lives we deal with one another in a more sombre, humane manner rather than according to judgemental political beliefs, influential financial means or time-honoured religious prejudices?

What if we genuinely look forward to a new year of change during which we are scheduled to go to the polls, a democratic exercise that will once again test our national credentials?

It is at times of unity that one sincerely feels we have become the nation we have aspired to be since Manwel Dimech’s time, since 1964 and 1979, whatever period you prefer. It is why Dr Sant’s personal problem, happily tackled professionally and discreetly by all those concerned – party, government, Church, family, surgeon, staff, hospital – instantly became the whole nation’s concern but not at the price of his and his family’s right to privacy. I am sure it would have been the same had it happened to be someone from the other side of the political fence, as was after all manifested some years back when the then Prime Minister, Dr E. Fenech Adami, was hospitalised to undergo urgent treatment at St Luke’s.

There is also need for a national, that is, united, approach in tackling the threat to our urban and country environments, in dealing with such dividing issues as hunting and divorce, and in facing up to old creeps who think that development comes before preservation, skin colour before comprehension and blue before red or vice-versa.

It is this kind of maturity that will see us through the turbulent times ahead and not SmartCity, welcome though the project is. What is SmartCity without a united Malta seeking to make sure not only that it is a success, but also that it benefits the whole of Maltese society?

That we are still able to rise to the occasion and show the kind of maturity that has been shown in recent weeks is, or should perhaps be, the guiding light. This lone scribbler’s observation is not meant to offer some missionary vision or take the form of a Mother Theresa appeal for unity and solidarity. It is merely a liberal analysis of an awkward situation that has been dealt with in a very satisfactory manner by a nation that, at times, one thinks it is incapable of.

2008 will be the year that will put it to the ultimate test. There are no longer any colonial masters to accuse, no religious crusades to hide behind and no ideologies to camouflage. When the whistle blows for the forthcoming general election to be held, it will be up to us to demonstrate once and for all that we have grown up and are ready to face up to the realities that go with nationhood and, begrudgingly or not, membership of an international union of States. Small though we may be, it is still our responsibility to sustain our independence and, yes, hard-won neutrality, particularly at a time like this when religious, political and monetary fundamentalisms have raised their odious heads once again.

This New Year is destined to be one of a myriad challenges. The post-March impact of the euro needs to be taken into consideration, just as much as the need to get through the general election in a peaceful and mature way, and with a readiness to accept change not merely for the sake of change itself, but with the hope that fresh ideas and fresh methods will finally give the nation that new direction it so desperately needs.