The Christmas season is a significant time of year for many of us. This time bears an important meaning not solely because of its celebration of the birth of Christ and his gentle humanity but also because we revisit important memories from our life’s journey. It is a period of human transaction and a vast array of emotions. Serenity, togetherness, recollection, exchange and forgiveness are but a few simple human emotions and transactions that come to mind.   Some of us get to enjoy moments of well-deserved rest with our loved ones while others amongst us are destined to be far away from the ones we hold most dear to our heart. What a time of emotional ambivalences for many of us.  Indeed, the Christmas season brings with it brightness and joy to some and darkness and pain to others. We walk each day of our lives with men, women and children who live their pain in silence, holding their heads high and conquering the challenges of each single moment with courage and pride. These are our heroes, our invisible heroes. History will turn some of these heroes into the gentle giants of humanity. I shall dedicate my thoughts today to all the invisible heroes and gentle giants who walk amongst us!

As I grow older I always catch myself mentally revisiting important memories from my past and being overcome by a burning desire to share them with my loved ones. We each carry along our life’s journey that which I shall call “the invisible bag of life”. In this imaginary bag we collect our life’s experiences, thoughts, memories, ideas and emotions. We open up this bag each day of our lives pulling out significant memories and adventures which may help or hinder our travel through time.  Some memories simply never fade away and only get stronger with the passing of age. My Christmas season memories are such to me.

From a very young age, I anticipated this time of year with joy, looking forward to setting up the festive decorations, visiting the village cribs with my family and piling up those love- filled gifts to distribute.  The gift exchange ritual was always and still is a landmark event in my family during this time of year.  I always relished the sight of contentment and joy imprinted on the faces of my loved ones during the gift giving ritual as the warmth of the ‘Aladdin’ heater and the tunes of Perry Como and Frank Sinatra filled the air.  The overwhelmingly warm and fuzzy feeling of those nights still echoes in my heart. This was a time of peace and togetherness in my childhood family.

As I established my family with Joe, my best memories of Christmas are when our kids were young. For the larger part of our daughter’s early childhoods, our family lived in Connecticut in the United States.  Our lives were very private back then with simple joys filling our Christmas season.   Here we looked forward to the first snow flurries and subsequently the heavy snowfalls of the season.  All Christmases but one, saw us commuting all the way to Malta to spend the festive season with our dear ones here. The Christmas season of 1997 was the last we spent in America before relocating back to Malta.  My dear childhood friend Anna and her husband and young kids came over.  We spent our Christmas and New Year travelling along the Eastern coast of the USA together. That was a wonderful Christmas. We returned back to our humble home in Connecticut in time to celebrate the New Year. Upon our arrival we were immediately greeted by the news that our dearest and closest friend James had passed away. We were dumb struck, numb and feeling like our hearts and minds had parted ways with our bodies.

James suffered from a silent killer, depression. He was a psychiatrist younger in age, tormented by life and unable to bear its burden. We were devastated by his loss, and still are today after sixteen years, saddened by the thought that we were unable to help him or save him from an untimely death.  How could we not save James? We were a psychiatrist and a psychologist who trained in some of the best mental health facilities in the world! How could we not see this coming? There are still many unanswered questions for us.  So each Christmas and New Year we inevitably now celebrate James’ life and our friendship. Like James there are many amongst us who battle difficult life situations.  The mum and dad who have lost their child, the child who has lost a parent, the sibling who has lost a brother or a sister.  The man, woman and child who is battling illness or caring for an ill loved one.   The man, woman or child who is living in some kind of emotional, social or physical hardship. There are many brave men, women and children with brave hearts who live amongst us. These are extraordinary men, women and children with unparalleled courage and gentle humanity who walk invisibly amongst us. We may walk beside them and never know who they are. Many carry their pain in their hearts for nobody to see. We travel through time together, sometimes with each other, sometimes against each other and sometimes in parallel with each other but always together.

I must here not fail to mention another class of heroes. These are those specially marked life travellers who possess that same unparalleled courage, gentle humanity and sound reason which they put to the service of other life travellers and for the common good.  These heroes are often not appreciated enough in their life times but history will turn them into giants because of their loyalty to justice and truth. For their brave selflessness, determination and will to make your world, my world and that of our children a better place for us to be in. These heroes or gentle giants, as I like to call them, have also sacrificed much of their energies, often their families and their private lives for the dream of freedom, justice and peace to become a reality for us all.  These heroes also walk invisibly amongst us today carrying their greatness and their pain in silence. These heroes know who they are!  I publicly thank you for your sacrifice.

Our life stories are still unfolding. We each bear a responsibility towards ourselves and the people around us. So as we step into the New Year, let us steer our life course and write our destinies with courage and hope. Let us remember that justice, truth and honesty do hold a solid place in history. Above all let us look out for each other with serenity and forgiveness in our hearts. I promise that this brave step will turn this New Year into the happiest New Year you have ever experienced. It will turn you and me into heroes perhaps invisible heroes but still heroes!  I augur all of you my most sincere and warm wishes for a heroic, healthy and joyous year. May each day treat you kindly. May your hearts be forever filled with peace.