'The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.’

 William Arthur Ward  

Libyan families are terrified, petrified. 

They cannot communicate.  

Even body language can kill. 

One frown, word or grimace and it might well be their last. 

Their leaders had their chances. They still do but it becomes difficult by the day. They need diplomatic help and fast. Decisions must be made, implemented before it’s too late.

Derna is in shambles. 

Sirte too and Al Baghdadi has declared swathes of Libyan territory as its Caliphate.

Suleimann 11 might be trying his luck again soon for all we know.

In Malta too, decisions need to be made, now.

These evening, there will be more Parliamentary Committee meetings at the President's Palace in our capital. That is the norm, since Monday is a popular choice for these mini conventions. They will all be mainstream and regular, except one, The Parliamentary Committee for The Environment and Development Planning, which has dared to question the parameters within which it is expected to operate, in an attempt to be rendered of more tangible service to the electorate and exercise its democratic power effectively.

I happen to Chair this toothless committee and I prefer to act rather than wait to be acted upon. 

For all its worth, as long as I'm responsible, I will keep trying to stop the damage before I am forced to count the casualties.

In the wider pictur , with the  rapidly progressing  and uncontained dismemberment of  Ukraine in the North, the impoverishment of Greece in the centre, and Isis preparing to assail Europe from the South, this little committee meeting is insignificant. 

When one looks closely at how and why and when things happen however, whether it’s on the micro-scale established in a Parliamentary mini gathering questioning why a cement silo was given permission to operate right next to a grain terminal with the possibility of catastrophic health consequences, or a macro-gathering of Europe's top brass talking about solidarity while pro-EU Ukraine is chopped up, an unsavoury common  denominator  clearly emerges.

In all these meetings, many wonderful speeches are delivered.

Many resolutions are made.

Everybody, individually, feels very good about himself because he did not stammer in his speech and there were congratulating nods in his direction.

Then there is the lunch and the flowing wine (not in our Parliamentary committee because we did not sell enough passports yet).

Indolence and decadence dominate the meeting spaces more than the crystal chandelier spitting its light shards on the aging boardroom table.

Some of the parties involved would then ensure their individual interests before and on top of what is right for the common, collective interest.

The big picture is all but ignored. 

Solidarity is sung but not played and a price tag is put on values, according to each country's/ individual/ company's going rate.

They all think that it’s not their problem, yet.

There are no leaders to persuade the group into doing what is right in time. 

And if the Chairperson or a leader insists on the right direction he/ she will be immediately looked upon as the next person selected as a volunteer colonizer of Mars.

In short they tend to procrastinate and often postpone decisions or invent an excuse to justify the reason for not taking a decision on the decision. 

Outside the boardroom there is mayhem, real or in people's minds.

Eventually disaster might bring people together if there are any left. It might also create the right mindset, in minds now weakened by the disaster itself.

Then decisions have to be taken anyway, after so much is lost.

The outcome remains questionable because the adversary is agile and is driven by a fierce passion and common sense and, evil unlike good has no boundaries and is hardly ever weighed down by democratic anchors.

I write this in Birgu, perched on the magnificent hardstone steps of the Church of St Lawrence 's parvis.  Beneath me lay the remains of the few thousand Maltese and Europeans who in the name of a common belief, fuelled by a common religious and cultural zeal , in unison, defended our islands from sure annihilation of  its European values.  

I can try to be brave in the face of all possibilities, but as a representative of the people I cannot just be brave, I need to urge my government to take the necessary decisions and steps to ensure the safety of my countrymen.

Our reality is changing fast.

It is not the time to wait and see.