Bad impressions are indeed harmful and not easy to correct. In Maltese we say, " Tini l-fama u itfaghni l-bahar" which literally means, 'give me a good name and throw me into the sea'. That is if I have a good name I could face and overcome any difficulty.
Conversely it means that if I have a bad name or if I leave a first bad impression, I am lost even if I am not that bad. People tend to inflate the bad side of things and could for example, turn a slight quarrel into a full scale revolt.
The lack of adherence to regulations and the outright breaking of the law with little or no visible action against the offenders is leaving the impression that in Malta and Gozo our laws are lax, nobody cares that much about things and that one can get away with almost anything.
Could this be one reason why Malta was recently classed as the number 4 country in the world (or in Europe?) where drug addiction is rampant. Why has Mgr. Victor Grech of Caritas sadly declared recently on TV that the battle against Drug use in Malta is lost? Could it be that drug dealers and traffickers are well-informed and have reached the decision that they can ply their trade fairly 'safely' over here. The Airport, the Freeport and the Cruise Liner Terminal may be well-guarded against these deadly parasites but what about the other inlets, creeks and bays dotted around our islands' coastline. Are they also constantly being watched day and night by members of the police or of the Armed Forces because in winter the more remote beaches in Gozo like Wied l-Ghasri, ix-Xatt l-Ahmar and Dwejra are completely deserted and would serve as the ideal playground for such underhand activities.
If we assume that this is being done and that the sea around Malta and Gozo is also being patrolled then how is it that drugs are so easy to find on the market here? Recently, I heard mention on TV that the tobacco market is worth billions not just millions and I suppose that the drug market is worth even more. So it is not surprising considering that so much money is involved, but who...how....when....?
On their part, with no serious all-round surveillance the local young lads and girls who are ready to experiment find it easy to buy some pills and wash them down with a couple of beer cans. Many foreign young students come to Malta with the excuse of learning English but they learn other things as well in the meantime. Their parents unknowingly pay for their study-holiday but it is not unusual to see 15-year old (and younger) girls and boys with cigarettes hanging from their lips screaming and shouting, half-drunk and still brandishing beer bottles in the small hours of the morning. The language schools are doing very well, in fact we heard today (Sunday, 4th Nov. 2012) that the Language Schools in Malta are top of the list. The pubs and wine bars must be doing fairly well too. It is the young ones who are being abused and shamelessly exploited.
These goings-on are no secret and can be seen openly occurring almost every night all over our islands. All that is needed is more serious visible police action against all those who are throwing their civic responsibilities to the wind (see next post).
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