The Malta Independent on Sunday
The Pandemic that rendered us all Screenagers
Received the prestigious Napoleonic title of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur from the French Republic in 2011. His chef d’oeuvre is France in the Maltese Collective Memory first published in 2014, with a third edition to be on sale imminently. Not one to
eading several of the Diaries appearing on this page made me reflect, now that it is my turn, how much easier it is to write about positive and happy events rather than gloomy ones. Since March of last year coronavirus has threatened our health, wellbeing and livelihoods together with that of so many people across the planet, intensely impacting our lives and dominating much of our thinking.
In a survival mode this extraordinary event has wrought changes to our behaviour and attitudes. Our minds have responded to the threat of this deadly disease by finding ways to continue our innate need to belong, express natural kindness towards strangers and most of all broaden our minds.
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Medical pandemic services have been excellently handled in Malta. Still it is worth remembering that the vaccine is not only a commendable curable remedy; it has become a symbol of hope whatever its benefit to humanity in the long run. The jab is not only pathologically fighting the virus to protect us; its fluid also reaches our brains, spreading a sense of satisfaction for having done something tangible to combat the enemy.
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The pandemic has changed how we work and learn, how we spend our leisure time, dress and shop and interact with family and friends. Hectic agendas, deadlines, lecturing sessions, home and course work have not abated. We have endorsed a new normality sadly lacking in human physical contact we cherished so much in a past that is fading faster than we care to remember.
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The first desirable event I had to postpone a year ago was my habitual spring visit to Paris which I had been keeping up for decades. Last year was a special year. After Malta’s famous friend from France – author Daniel Rondeau – had been elevated to the prestigious membership of the Academie Française in 2019, I looked forward to congratulating him in person. Since his days in Malta as ambassador of France I have kept amitié exchanges with Daniel and Noëlle, meeting wherever and whenever opportune. Thanks to the pandemic we have had to postpone a special hug.
Slipping into a cybernetic world since last year I found myself, day after day, week after week, month after month and sadly now year after year, saving a lot of time as I do not travel anymore for my commitments. I have become a screenager like most of us.
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My life in journalism kept me aware 24/7, keenly following world news, rather trapped in the cyber world of the mobile, the notebook, the computer, TV. Luckily besides travel, I love reading. I am certain that like many other readers the book has augmented its presence in my life: on the sofa, in bed or on a bench to concurrently compensate for some of the outdoor life we are missing.
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I love books so much that I also write them in various genres, whenever I can. As I speak I have several scripts waiting to be published but the first on the list is going to be the much-awaited third edition of France in the Maltese Collective Memory to be published by the University of Malta, now coinciding to mark the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s death on St Helena on May 5, 1821 and what he reminisced in his Diaries about Malta. It is going to be a special souvenir edition as it also includes a new text insert.
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But I did not stop there – I used the past twelve months to write another new book this time focusing in detail on our colonial experience and how it is still influencing our thinking. I promise my readers a big debate between its covers.
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Obviously I am not living the pandemic in a vacuum even though as a family we had to give up a shared lunch on Saturdays. Now we meet fleetingly with a mask, at a safe distance and mostly one to one, exchanging little gifts – books most of the time – and dishes each cooks in their own home.
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My daughter Karen keeps up with her legal European duties only pausing to dedicate breaks to the love of her life: dance. Having spent most of her childhood practising ballet at Tanya Bayona’s now she adores Tango – luckily her last pre-pandemic trip took her to Argentina. She tries to keep her leisure appointments via Internet, including a celebrated 48-hour global Tango Milonga session organised by DNI Tango School in Buenos Aires last year.
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My son Karsten, quite a public persona himself in the cultural world, breathes oxygen through the Internet. His hectic commitments include cultural UNESCO-related studies, academic and policy conferences and international remote exchanges with colleagues in so many other foreign Universities, societies and extensions on practically all continents. His daughter Serena has taken to tele-school like a fish to water though she relishes all the time she spends on the school premises when they are open on roster basis. Grandma Tracy unceasingly shuttles between car and mobile to keep our communication network machine running smoothly.”
Editorial Note: If you wish to contribute your own Covid diary please email mbenoit@hotmail.co.uk