Now that spring is in the air, thousands of hunters will be looking back to past seasons when they had a field day shooting down all feathered creatures that came their way. The high number of hunters raises the question why Malta seems to be such a fertile ground for abundantly hostile behaviour.

Hunting has become our main characteristic and has probably infected other sectors of life. It could however be the other way round. Hunting could have flourished in Malta because it has been nourished by a ‘shooting friendly’ environment.

A short glance at contributions in our daily newspapers suffices to demonstrate this theory. Several letters and columns start by shooting down and discrediting first the author of unwelcome opinions. The rest is obvious. A dead mother cannot give birth to a healthy baby. Even a quick check of our day-to-day language would reveal similar patterns. Requests and new ideas are shot down every second sentence. Debasing comments are prolific. Violent language is very common.

Creative and visionary individuals are grounded as early as possible in all spheres of life. And it is always like the hunting season. You scarcely see the birds but you cannot miss hearing the thundering shots even in the early morning hours.

Shooting and shouting have crept into our daily relations. Internal family outbursts belong to the most common neighbourhood sounds. They belong to Malta as hunting does. It is very difficult to guess which type of hunting came first. It seems sometimes as if hunted men escape the ‘hunting’ place at home to hunt in the countryside. At other times disgruntled hunters returning home continue their ‘hobby’ by shouting down at everything that crosses their way. Live and let live do not even dare ask for refugee status in Malta.

Agnes Debono

Kercem