The Acts of the Apostles and history books say that St Paul gave Malta its faith when he was shipwrecked here on his way to Rome.

Although different historians hold different views as to whether Malta maintained its Catholic links all throughout 2,000 years or whether other religions had, for a time, substituted it, the fact remains that today Malta is still predominantly a Catholic country, although recent census figures show that only half the population attends Sunday Mass.

But this editorial is not about religion.

While using a word document on the computer, a right-click on the word “faith” gives you the word “confidence” as a synonym, although there is a marked difference between the real meaning of the two words. While faith is mostly associated with religion, confidence is used mostly with character-building matters.

Confidence is also a word, or better, a concept, that has been widely spoken about in politics. It is the belief in one’s capabilities, as an individual, and in the collective potential, as a nation, to succeed.

Confidence is the first step towards success. It is not to be confused with ambition, or, worse, over-ambition. It is simply a realistic understanding of what can be achieved and the pursuit of such an achievement.

In this respect, we, as a country, must be confident in our capabilities to survive the difficult moments that we are facing because of the financial problems that are being experienced elsewhere, and have started to affect us, both directly and indirectly.

It is only if we work together, if we are united in affronting these hard times, that we will be able to succeed.

History has taught us that the Maltese, in spite of our limitations and small size, have been able to survive perhaps even worse circumstances. The Second World War quickly comes to mind, but not only that. There were various other times in our history that the Maltese overcame the same difficulties other countries faced, but with less hardship.

It will not be any different this time. But we will need all the forward-planning, commitment and determination we can muster to overcome such a delicate moment, which may last longer than many are predicting.

To do this, we must not go to the extreme of thinking that all is bad, or, for that matter, that all we are doing is good. The story of the way St Paul was treated when he was in Malta shows that, unfortunately, we have been a people of “extremists” right from our origins – it is written that when St Paul was bitten by a viper the Maltese thought he was a criminal who would not escape the clutches of death after having survived the shipwreck, but then changed their mind to the other extreme of thinking he was a god when the viper’s poison did not affect him.

It was possibly the biggest u-turn in our history, certainly a much bigger one than the many u-turns political parties and unions often accuse each other of doing in one subject or the other.

But we are also “extremists” because there is still a large segment of the population that believes that what the government does is always correct, and another large segment that thinks the opposite. This does not allow us to see things clearly and with objectivity. It does not allow us to work properly and to use our full potential.

It’s like a tug-of war, with one side pulling one way and the other side pulling in the opposite direction – which means that we run the risk of staying in the same place.

At a time like this, we should all be on board the boat named Malta as it struggles to survive the storm.

We cannot afford another shipwreck.