Lara Dean is a 17-year-old currently residing in Malta. She is a student at De La Salle College, keenly pursuing studies in languages. The following is her winning essay at the British Culture Association Competition, held in January.

The face gives it all away! The forehead frowns, the eyes pierce, the nose wrinkles, the lips twist, the teeth grind and the chin drops! The tongue follows, and promptly utters: “uffs!” and “ifs!” and blows! The ears catch the typical expressions, such as “livid”, “furious”, “angry”, “hate” and “bother”!

Every so often you just need to let go, to vent, release things off your chest. That is exactly what I intend to do here. See, I think it is better to do it here than to take it to the public where someone could get hurt. I have no idea how much I will put on this page at this point. I know it will grow as I ponder over additional flaws or as new things transpire…

Are you ready?

Let us start with friends. Friends are there for you when they can be. We all know that it has to be convenient for them otherwise they cannot be there. I can understand that. If that is really the case then I can walk up to any stranger and strike up a conversation with these free-range potential friends. If they are sitting on a park bench with nothing to do, why not sit and chat with them? They are fair game and might turn out to be a friend who has time for you. If the conversation gets too heavy they, or I, or both can leave. You see, the friends I have do not seem to have time for me anymore so I think I will try talking to random people who do not know me because they care just about as much as my “friends” do.

Punctuality – this is why we have clocks and watches. Still, when you live in a country where no one cares about anyone else but themselves, you seldom find anyone who is on time. They will get there when they get there. So am I wrong to complain? What makes their time any more precious than mine? Yet I must face facts. These people will never change. They will always keep people waiting and they will not even realise they are doing it, or if they do realise… they will simply not care.

People have become less polite nowadays. If you are in a game or in a chatroom and sometimes even on IRC, someone will eventually address you with: “ASL?” It took me a while to find out that it meant age, sex, location. How rude! What ever happened to, “Hi. How are you? My name is Joe Blow and I am from Podunk Indiana. What’s your name?” I always responded to them in the same polite manner. Why can’t they take the time to actually chat? This is not speed dating. No one is late for a train. I am not looking for a relationship, merely someone to chat with.

People who use AM and PM redundantly get on my nerves; when they say things like “9am in the morning” and “10pm at night.” One or the other will suffice, thank you. Not to mention young boys on the internet who insist on calling all females “Babe” or “Cutie”, or even worse in every day life; “Dude” – what’s with all the informality!?

Sometimes I wish I lived in the olden days before electricity and before the horseless carriage. Then I would not have to hear music blasting from houses and cars with enough bass to damage your ears forever. You can hear it coming from miles away. Once again this is a case of them not caring about others. It makes them merry so why should they even bother about how it makes others feel? More often than once, it is young people.

I know I am setting myself up for being labelled a grouchy old woman but this is all true and you, kind reader, know I am right.

People complain about iPods and all those personal MP3 players. Why? It is that much less garbage we have to listen to if they keep it stuck into their own heads. Yet there are always the ones who just cannot get it loud enough and even though the little ear buds are nailed into their head we can still hear the music. I may just gouge out my own eardrums and cut out the middle man. But I would miss the sound of the rain falling. I would miss hearing the ocean but I never get there anyway.

I absolutely abhor the widespread “I-don’t-care” attitude. I sincerely believe in rights, respect and responsibility, thus I often find myself awfully agitated by people’s carelessness in society. I cannot endure people who use their cell phones in a loud or annoying manner in public, people who use rude or offensive language in public and people who throw garbage on the ground. People who never say thank you for anything – acknowledging the favour is free of charge you know. Reverence towards the six billion people living in the world would be much appreciated. Moreover, dentists who want to chat when they have their fingers in my mouth is utterly aggrieving!

Ultimately, smoking is a form of hate. Many who smoke display a complete disregard for those around them. The very necessity for “No Smoking” signs demonstrates this. Most people do not naturally concern themselves with even the basic needs of others. Countless smokers do not consider that those around them find it uncomfortable to dine, shop, work or enjoy anything while inhaling second-hand smoke.

Stress at school ticks in my head every day. I cannot stand rushing through a lesson due to the limited time allotted. I dream of having certain lessons, such as History and Geography, out of the classroom. I would absorb hands-on information if we were taught on the spot. How I long to have a decent start! Leaving home at 6.30 in the morning, it is more like a working shift. Another sector of the system, which I hate with a passion, is that you have to drop subjects which you enjoy studying, to take up others which are not essential in your future career. Anyhow, what is one supposed to do besides groan and grumble!?

Furthermore, we find the problem of a crazy examination-fuelled system in Malta. The greatest exam of all is facing the real world. Children should be taught to face the real world by being confronted with relevant problems to solve.

And true. We speak of a nation which has dug its heels into the carrier of social mobility – examinations, a 19th century segregation relic on for ostracised “ignorants” as we learn. The result has been generations of textbook-parrots whose lives depend on end-of-year certificates and Matsec grades. Something has to give, but nothing has yet changed. We remain, in the most gracious of demeanours, a nation of schooled idiots.

Most people have a “live-and-let-live” attitude when it comes to such matters as long as those things do not directly affect them personally. Increasingly, in today’s society, people are shunning personal responsibility for their actions. Every wrong thing that they do – resulting in harm to themselves or others – is always “somebody else’s fault”. Indeed folks, the blame game is very much in vogue. Common sense has also seemingly disappeared from the scene.

Overcoming any bad habit or sin is not easy. It is a lifelong process, because no one is or will be perfect as long as he is a flesh-and-blood human being. However, overcoming is a process, and only by doing (naturally, in the right direction) can we actually prosper in life.

The list of the things that drive me up the wall is endless, things that make me blow my top off and make my skin crawl. Nevertheless, I despise being negative, so let us hope that the “don’ts!” will turn into “do’s” one day!