The religious and the profane
I am not fond – not even remotely – of Carnival and the ancillary activities which are intrinsically related to it.
info@peopleatwork.com.mt dmittedly, over the years, most of the Carnival events have improved considerably to what today is a professional standard, with large sums of money invested in this grotesque festival of excess preceding Lent. Although held in many localities, Carnival is mainly celebrated in Valletta and spontaneously in Nadur, Gozo. But this year the weather did not oblige and, despite my indifference towards Carnival, I really felt bad when most of the planned activities had to be cancelled due to inclement weather.
Unfortunately, most of the activities were cut short due to sudden cloudbursts and strong winds, while others were crammed into very tight schedules. In a nutshell, the bad weather spoiled this year’s Carnival parades. The efforts of the participants and organisers, who worked tirelessly and painstakingly in the previous months, almost went down the drain along with the rainwater flooding most of our streets, had it not been for the postponement of the activities to last weekend. The children’s Carnival parade was organised in the elegant St George’s Square last Saturday, while the gran défilé was organised in St Anne Street, Floriana on Sunday.
This year, Carnival coincided with the weekend when the feast of St Paul is typically celebrated in all its pomp. By tradition or coincidence the weather on 10 February tends to be cold and dreary. According to tradition and the Acts of the Apostles (XXVIII) by St Luke, the weather was very bad when Paul was being taken to Rome to be tried as a political rebel. The vessel carrying him and 274 others was caught in a violent storm, only to be wrecked on the Maltese coast; yet all aboard swam safely to land. According to the Acts, Paul and the rest of the survivors were given a warm welcome by the locals, until Paul was bitten by an asp. But he suffered no ill effects.
Malta then turned to Christianity.
I do not want to sound cynical, but the change in dates, and the swap of the religious for the grotesque was not well received by St Paul, who must have taken exception to the change. And this displeasure was not helped by the leader of the Opposition! If anything, it was further compounded with the lashing made publicly by the leader of the Opposition during an interview conducted recently on a Sunday morning. When referring to Malta’s Constitution, he made two strong assertions which should be looked into. The PN leader claimed that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat wanted to “remove crucifixes from classes” and that he “wants to send our children to war.” Both statements are of serious nature. One, perhaps, more than the other. But the reaction of the general public to the comments passed by the leader of the Opposition was zilch.
The non-reaction of the public to the statements made by the leader of the Opposition may mean one of the two things. On one hand, people are not really in the mood to enter into some sort of confrontation with the competent authorities on issues which are or may be considered by many as far-fetched; alternatively, people are as yet not taking the assertions seriously.
I dismiss the notion floated by the leader of the Opposition that Prime Minister Muscat wants or is planning to send our children to war. Dr Muscat’s recent pledge that nothing will make him change his mind to contest another general election is a clear signal that he is preparing to end his political career on a high note. Sending our children to war will tarnish his political reputation for good. The prime minister has, so far, managed to survive and handle very serious allegations of corruption with little fallout. Under his stewardship the PL has grown in popularity, although the price for this has not been costed. At what price this was achieved, not in monetary terms, may yet surface at some later stage when it would be too late to rectify. The monetary cost is, in fact, only a secondary issue.
With regard to the removal of crucifixes from classrooms, I have my own views on this proposal, if this issue ever surfaces. I strongly believe that crucifixes should remain fixed prominently in classrooms; but what I consider important is not the body of Jesus Christ on the cross, but basic altruistic values which must be promoted in classrooms and at homes.
A fast-changing society needs much more than a crucifix in a classroom. Our society is in desperate need of role models, not least in the political arena. Working tirelessly for the common good takes more than promises in an electoral manifesto or a televised programme, as the case may be.
St Paul may have expressed his disappointment when, on the day he was expecting us to celebrate his feast on 10 February, we opted for the profane instead. Similarly, the electorate may find a thousand and one reasons or excuses to support or abandon a proposal.
The time for wrapping up empty promises nicely is up, and rubbing people the wrong way should stop. Enough already. The electorate is expecting our politicians to show the way forward and to take the moral high ground.