Everybody Gets Knocked Down!

You don’t lose the fight when you fall down, you lose the fight when you don’t get back up!

I know first-hand what it’s like to fight your ass off for something you love that you have invested your whole life in, like your country for instance; in my case, it’s with regards to my children.

How can you ask anyone to forget about the sacrifices made, the blood, sweat and tears with each attack and the hardship that followed?

If you think for one split second that I don’t share that with you all, you’re sadly mistaken because I really do, I just don’t agree with way you people have handled yourselves; my circumstances are with regards to my children and yours is with a country that we all love.

As a single mother raising two children single-handedly for sixteen years with no help from anyone and keeping them safe from police corruption, a case stretched seven years long, just to have them illegally ripped from right under me after all the hard work was done, was without a doubt distressing; in the same way change has distressed you people.

All I am trying to do by publically voicing my concerns with regards to un-acceptable practices that are deemed illegal and keeping you people stuck in the past, is to motivate change to what is no longer working, or at least to get you people to see it, because this country is no longer just yours, it is now the joint property of the European Union (EU) and ALL EU Nationals alike – it’s ours and we all love it or we wouldn’t be here!

Sharing this country is no longer a choice for the Maltese People but a legal responsibility. You agreed to share it by way of a majority rules vote and paid handsomely, and as responsible adults you must take full responsibility for the choices you made by welcoming the changes that have accompanied the money injections, as a result of joining the EU to become one of the 28 Member States.

I am not saying that I agree with the EU and I am not saying that I disagree with the EU but it’s in full force now and as a whole, you people chose it – no one stole it from you;;; most of you are behaving like you’re country has been stolen or invaded in accordance to what I have witness so far to be deemed unacceptable levels of discrimination against foreign EU Nationals, who are no longer foreigners to Malta.

If you want to happy in a country that’s no longer yours but ours, you must see how you can benefit from the changes, as a result of joining the EU, and you don’t have look too hard to see that there are plenty to reap.

Take my situation for example, if I can find the strength to move forward from crimes committed against me on a collective scale – that resulted to the loss of my most adored children, (and they were not sold like your country, nor was any agreement made involving me to share them with anyone), a crime that almost caused me to take my own life – so can you move forward from a decision that you made all by yourselves to change titles holders of what was once regarded as your country.

The EU broke NO LAW, they asked and you gave at a price; for those of you who voted against it, I hope you can appreciate that there are people in this world whose circumstances are far worse than any changes you’ve had to endure as a result of becoming a part of the EU… and if that’s the most of your worries, you people have got it really good!

Furthermore, I want to point out that my emotional intelligence is what gives me the strength to forgive and I’ve been doing that since my arrival into this country; and let’s not dismiss that illegal cross reference that most of you (if not all) willingly engaged in; an entire community ganging up on one single person who came to Malta thinking the world of the Maltese because of the unconditional love her most adored Maltese Grandmother give her during her most crucial developmental years.

After 12 months of quietly tolerating domestic violence, a crime committed against me by one of your own and a community at large supporting him, (happily carrying forward his violence at a time when I was doing everything in power to change the circumstances of abuse), I began out of self-defence to speak up, to stand up and put up no more. If that’s not patience, then I don’t what is.

For those of you who don’t know me very well, my favourite story in history is that Bloody War you people won (with the help of some) and to be perfectly honest, when I arrived in Malta, December of 2012, I was soooo disappointed to hear that the Maltese are no longer the sole title holders of the very country they fought their ass off for and lost countless lives over, a victory that earned the respect of the British who awarded Malta with the highest award possible, The St George Cross – deemed the most bombed place on earth; and I remember saying to my Auntie upon arrival, ‘how can these people be so f**ken stupid after everything they’ve been through to hand on to it…?’;;; but when I travelled to Rome, Paris, London and Venice, I realised what a great opportunity we all have to be free to live and work in any EU member state, 28 to choose from and that’s not the only benefit, even Malta’s economy has improved, not to mention the pay rates are better abroad and the list goes on…

What we need to work on now, if we want to move forward in harmony for the mutual benefit – because enjoyment is everyone’s Human Right – is accept what we cannot change, cut our losses and move forward, drawing up a new future for us all envisioning a successful outcome that does not exclude anyone, irrespective of whether they are EU Residents (not born in Malta) or Refugees who have been forced through no fault of their own to flee for safety, risking their lives on an overcrowded dingy sailing across shark infested waters to escape their circumstances of abuse – safety is also their human right.

Everyone has something good to offer and our job is to welcome everyone who is entitled to be here so we can see and reap the benefits, it may just be something you need that you didn’t know you could have and if you need to apologise because you have spoken or acted in error in your efforts to blindly discriminate then give it, it’s that simple; an apology when you are at fault shows respect and people do appreciate it when you mean it – an effective way to start building bridges, as oppose to racial wars that arise from negligence.

Have courage to try something new, as we are not at war anymore; not with the German’s, not with the Italian’s and certainly never with the Australian’s; let’s not start one!

SENARIO ONE:

The best way I can describe what I am trying to say is this, picture in your head a work party about to take place that you’ve know about for a long time and it’s a requirement that everyone brings a plate of food, which is in affect a contribution to the level of enjoyment about to be shared. A Maltese person brings cooked Rabbit, an Italian brings Pizza, a French brings freshly baked Croissants, a Greek brings Moussaka, a Spanish brings a pork dish called Chicharron, a Romanian brings Salata De-Boeuf, an African brings Banana Coconut Bake and the Australian brings Fish and Chips and a warm smile; and all these are placed in line on a trestle table for everyone to help themselves and enjoy. How much enjoyment do you do you think you will get from such an event, the opportunity to taste something new that is good for you and some you never even knew existed?  

SENARIO TWO:

Now let’s say that only Maltese born staff members are invited at this same work party and they can only bring Maltese food for example, strictly Maltese food and nothing else belonging to any other culture because they simply won’t share them with you. You will be tasting the same foods and soon enough get sick of them, so your enjoyment is not going to be the same as having an all-inclusive party. What you cannot do is eat your food and theirs without inviting them.

There are those of you who voted for the EU because you envisioned a brighter future, whether you were motivated by money or the need for change. What’s done is done and we must start seeing the good that everyone has to offer when they come to OUR MALTA so we can all benefit from it, it just might make life easier for you; for example, the African’s are very strong and brilliant with manual labour jobs and work harder than anyone else I’ve seen in this country (handy for construction) the Maltese are creative and good with their hands (great for carnivals), the Italian’s are artistic (good for fashion), the Asian’s are highly intelligent (good for economy), the Australian’s are gorgeous and free spirited (good for tourism), and so on… Everyone has their good points, even if you don’t agree with them.

Good is hidden in every bad situation and as the saying goes, ‘when God gives you a gift, he wraps it up in a problem’. There are two things you can do with that problem, you can un-wrap it to enjoy the gift or you can deny it to yourself and the only person losing out in the end is you (but ignoring it is not going to make it go away and you always have the power to choose) there are no victims in this situation just people who are irresponsible. Your happiness is your responsibility and your responsibility only and when you smile, the world smiles with you because Malta is without a doubt a special place, we should look at way to smile together. 

There are two things we have in common, despite the fact that we don’t really see eye to eye, is (a) we don’t pay attention to the finer details and (b) the ability to win wars against all odds.

By making such a statement that I have boldly underlined, I am trying to point out how we can apply the same strength to making positive changes in our community that are long overdue. I’m referring to the type of changes that break old moulds in order to free a community that is unwell due to its outdated practices, festering a culture that is stale and no longer serves a purpose, affectively preventing us from moving forward and thriving as a ONE NATION 4 NON-DISCRIMINATION.

By Anne Agius (Gelicrisio)

Disclaimer:This document may be subject to error’s and has not yet been edited – all notification of changes that may be deemed necessary will be posted online via linked and Facebook profile belonging to the author/sender of this article; edited 16th July, 2015; last edited on July 18th, 2015.

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