What impressed me most in the days following the decisive referendum on divorce is that our society appears to be spinning down to earth very fast. And while I do believe in direct democracy in certain circumstances, will we now see more of the same to settle issues like same-sex weddings or even abortion disguised as women’s health?
The earth shook
The unexpected referendum result seems to have thrown politicians into an apparently uncharted minefield. But, as has often been stated, when you consider that it was they who passed the buck on to the citizen in the first place, they cannot now withhold their assent. The many statements that appeared on a daily basis showed a great sense of confusion, of lack of clarity and at times a total loss of their sense of direction. The funniest aspect is of course how so many MPs have suddenly discovered they have a conscience. With all three political groupings angling to either limit the damage or to fish as best they could in the turbulent wake of the referendum (and it seems some sizeable fish have been reeled in), it has been a fortnight of confusion and conjecture at the top of the heap.
On the other side of the divide, an equally dazed Church seems to have finally discovered that “Catholic” Malta is not that catholic and that the tenets of the faith that practically all claim to believe in are in reality paper-thin, badly understood, poorly absorbed and very selectively practised. There may be some way to go yet before we reach rock bottom but the sooner we hit the ground, the sooner we will be able to start climbing up. We need to rediscover who we are and what we really believe in. There are other very important issues looming and the first moves have already been played. Will a Church in disarray shed its centuries-old culture and finally learn to dialogue with society? Can it ever go back to the teachings of a founder who only showed love and compassion while pointing the way to the truth and the life? Does the challenge that only those who are without sin should presume to throw the first stone still mean anything to the Institution? Malta is a very confused nation at the moment, one in a state of shock at the turn that things have taken.
The crumbling of the Commandments
And matters have got out of hand more than people realise. Up to the eve of the referendum there were Ten Commandments. One has gone and I wonder about the fate of the others for some have been publicly discredited for quite a while. During one of the Yes meetings, a parish priest taking questions from those present did not hesitate to declare that vital though the referendum on divorce was, there were other serious problems to tackle, including that of the widespread corruption that is eating away at people’s ethical and moral beliefs. An informed conscience should not be triggered into action only over issues like divorce. There are plenty of areas where its contribution can be highly beneficial.
We have been bombarded with statistics about the break-up of our families. We have even been told that every day that passes takes its toll. We were told prior to the vote two weeks ago, that divorce was already with us anyway so why not regulate what was happening as indeed we plan to do with cohabitation. The concept of what is good and what is bad, of what is right and what is wrong, of what is honourable and what is dishonourable has been completely abandoned. We now seek only at best to regulate, for we dare not even pass any judgement on man’s destructive activities.
To name but one, abortion is very much with us. Shall we therefore legislate to control it? Abortion is no longer a matter of physically cutting out a foetus; the procedure has been extremely simplified and falls almost within the DIY range. Of course abortion nowadays goes by the name of women’s health and I have reason to suspect that the practice is quite widespread locally. While in no way am I linking divorce to abortion, the philosophy underlying both is the same: one of destruction in the name of individual choice. This too is part of the europeanisation of Malta that some are calling for. This too will be applauded as finally dragging Malta out of the Dark Ages.
Reading less and viewing more?
We were also told that people are reading less. The problem of illiteracy has plagued Malta for a very, very long time. Our teachers, our educators fought very hard to eradicate illiteracy. It seems that a new one has now taken its place, claiming apparently over 36 per cent of our school leavers. But to learn that fewer people are now actually reading newspapers (they are certainly not reading more books) comes as a surprise. For unless it is the cost of the papers, or the ability to read them on line, that is driving down sales, then one can reasonably assume that people are relying more and more on what they see on the box or on their computer. There is certainly much to be gleaned from watching certain foreign programmes that have a general knowledge/historic/cultural base, but something tells me that is not what most people watch. And frankly, a lot of what one sees on the box locally is extremely superficial.
Hardly culture vultures
Another piece of news, one not altogether unexpected, came from an EU survey that showed that only about nine per cent of people on this island are culturally active. There was a time when we blamed this on a people living a hand to mouth existence with no time for frivolities. There was a time when we blamed this on lack of education and a complete lack of appreciation of our nation’s heritage. Education has made advances but culture and appreciation of our heritage haven’t. Indeed the latter has to be defended tooth and nail by a few very brave individuals. As for culture, well it has been written that the cultural scene in Malta is so insignificant that it does not deserve to have a theatre or a concert hall. This judgement was of course made by those who do not patronise any form of culture, and that includes a big slice of our so-called educated class. So we gave our artists a ruin to play in while we concentrated precious resources on that national sport called politics to which we are dedicating a very costly shrine.
Today’s idolatries
Yes, Malta is a rather sick place at the moment. The remedy is not clear. What is amply clear however is that we need to roll up our sleeves and start exploring ways of giving back to this small island some of the certainties it enjoyed before it became ashamed of itself for not practising the same idolatries that prevail elsewhere.