Summer time can be dangerous. The perils do not come in the form of the odd thunderbolt during an unexpected and sudden storm, or a forest fire in our inexistent forests.
Neither does the danger lie in the eruption of a neighbouring volcano, an earthquake or a tsunami, for these are rare and far between.
The sort of danger I’m talking about can also be completely disassociated from the real fear of auto-combustion that grips women bil-fwawar (flushes) my age.... or the sense of remorse and disgust that pervades the minds of many as we rub tanning oil vigorously on our cellulite wracked bodies.
Summer time is dangerous because we take more holidays, which, in turn give us more space and time to think.
Thinking is not something everybody practises, though. In fact, many can be easily observed to choose to do anything, anytime, anywhere, as long as they are not asked or requested or expected to think. For thinking can be painful as well as dangerous, and more often than not , a great deal of pain can be postponed if one postpones thinking, and a great deal of turbulence. Sometimes lethal upheavals can be completely avoided if one refrains from thinking at all.
Just a glimpse into our history books, the history of the past and history of the present will easily prove my point. Socrates, Mozart , Hitler, Napoleon, Hemingway, Virginia Woolfe, Sylvia Plath, William Wallace, Robin Williams... sinners, saints and Martyrs and millions more were thinkers in their own way. They questioned things, challenged their present and refused a future.
Too many thinkers had miserable tormented lives, died terrible often unnatural deaths or worse than that inflicted the most terrible pain on others.
This some did by reining in the help of mass non-thinkers who accepted the creed of humanoid thinkers as long as they did not have to engage in human thinking themselves.
In any case, not everyone succeeds in fighting the urge not to think , at least not for all of the time.
Sometimes pockets of dazzling lucidity materialise out of nowhere and the embattled mind momentarily conquers the barring will, throwing the gates wide open to let out the gushing flood of imprisoned thoughts of actions, inactions and reactions.
And as I said, for many , Summer can be dangerous precisely because the slower less enslaving routine could provide such a space for unsavoury encounters with reality.
We have just come out of a week where Malta and Gozo en masse were celebrating the life of one woman. Santa Marija, our precious revered lady, was a woman, a mother, chosen by God to bear His Son according to our religion. But while celebrating the beauty and greatness of womanhood , of motherhood , our Church simultaneously prohibits women from becoming priests, inadvertently supporting the 'superiority' of males over females... and that is one small controversial gender bias...
Other religions on the other hand condone and even demand the most atrocious, inhuman treatment of women and children, to strengthen their claim to heaven.
One wonders how it is possible that world leaders speak of world progress when more than half of the world's population lives without the same rights and respect afforded to its male counterpart, and where women and children are turned into instruments of war: Raped, tortured, used as human shields and enslaved. I believe in prayers, but prayers, sometimes are not enough. Action and timely intervention is what's necessary and this is where world and religious leaders need to take the lead and move from lip service to action.
Even in this little country of ours the manifest hypocrisy in the matter is a glaring reality. While we celebrate Womanhood and Motherhood in festas all over our little islands, while we were promised more female representation in executive positions, as distinct from non executive positions, we silently accept the glass ceiling that has turned into a glass labyrinth or rather into a glass mirror that refuses to stop laughing in our faces.
Try applying for family friendly measures at your place of work, try to go through the ordeal of securing free childcare, take a look at how many women are stuck in the rut of precarious work, note how many female graduates disappear from their professional jobs because balance between work and family eludes them.
It’s not easy to remain a whole woman while fitting into a world made for men by other men.
Of course this can change, but not by relegating our best performing female minister into a non-executive role and compounding the gender imbalance that characterises executive levels in the administration. And why on Earth didn't we consider sending a female EU Commission candidate to the EU, to allay the big shortfall back home?
Another unwelcome summer on the beach thought that I wish to share with my readers is what I’m sure you are all thinking but not publicly articulating.
MPs like myself and ministers declare their assets year in year out, as they should. But wouldn't it be more prudent if people working at or close to OPM and Ministers, CEO's and maybe even close relatives did the same!
There are stories doing the rounds which if true, beggar what the people voted so heartily against in the last elections. It would be so delightful if these stories were proven to be myths and fables.
Peter Pan died this week for want of one single happy thought when he needed it most... Thinking can be dangerous indeed, but it can also be life saving.