The last couple of months has seen a number of news stories and comment pieces about the levels of inconsideration that people in Malta can descend to.

The real kick-starter was the incident where a person (of which we have heard nothing about since) decided to park their car on the emergency helipad at St Luke’s Hospital, which prevented a medevac helicopter from picking up a medical team to go to Gozo and airlift a patient to Malta.

There were various other incidents, but other ones that made the headlines included an instance of how a bus driver insulted an elderly woman, and how another carried on driving with a busload full of passengers as the vehicle’s steering wheel came loose and eventually came off.

It goes on and on. On a personal level, we see how people park people in, park in front of people’s driveways and garages, stop in the middle of street to go and buy something, jump queues, butt in and more.

It always has been ingrained in our culture, but it just seems to be getting worse and worse. The latest episode is highlighted on the front page of this issue of The Malta Independent. The story is simple, and it is one which repeats itself across the island. This particular incident refers to people parking in spots at the Children’s Unit at St Luke’s Hospital.

Spots which are clearly marked to be reserved for the disabled – in blue – for parents who need to take their children for therapy, have been taken over by motorists and hot dog vendors who do not have permits. Eyewitnesses told this newsroom that the car park is already tiny, but the spots that they need to take their children to therapy within a reasonable walking distance are taken over by selfish motorists.  This, though, happens every day. People simply just don’t care. Disabled spots all over the island are taken over by people who will “just be two minutes”. When one local council tried to jog people into action by posting a tongue in cheek placard to say that mental incompetence does not allow people to park in disabled spots, they were made to take it down.

This is 2014. We are supposed to live in an era where Malta is becoming more disciplined and European. But it seems that the more we progress down the road, the less disciplined we, as a people, are becoming.

Is it a shift in culture? Is it a breakdown in morals? Is it lack enforcement? Is it a sense of anything goes? It is probably all of those and more, all put together. We need to sort ourselves out. Collectively and sooner rather than later.