I am Proud to be Maltese. The reason I have found the need
to make this statement is because sometimes I have my doubts. While embracing a
natural affinity with the country in which I was brought into this world, my
tolerance level and acceptance of other races , countries and cultures nearly
counterbalances my patriotism. This is brought about by my unshaken belief that
we are all human beings with the same rights, even if those rights are not
accepted or practiced in the particular country in which you happen to be
living, through choice or otherwise. Not only do I believe in diversity, but
will go out of my way to implement and promote it.
Being proud to be Maltese, in my opinion, does not mean that
we will always prefer to buy a Maltese product, support a Maltese football
team, swear that Maltese cooking is the best, or try to impose our distorted
and biased Maltese values ( if there is such a thing ) on others. Being proud
to be Maltese allows us to prefer other countries’ or foreign artists’
contributions in certain aspects.
At this point, I need to confess what started this train of
thought. Since way back when I was a wee lad, I had always preferred to read
and write in English rather than Maltese. This must have been partly due to the
fact that I was not so exposed to Maltese literary works, but it somehow stuck
with me. Not that I was prejudiced against Maltese literature, I simply preferred
to read and write in English because my influences and inspirations came from
that particular country. I can and do express myself well verbally in Maltese
and will rarely engage in the half Maltese half English with literal
translations thrown in conversation which used to be associated with St.Joseph
and St.Aloysius students.
In most cases, I will either speak completely in Maltese or completely
in English. The exception to this is when I feel that a person is using this
bastardation of languages to feel somewhat superior. In this case, I will rise
to the occasion to show that I can speak tal pepe as well as the next man, and
then some. I always have this urge or innate instinct to emulate the accent,
dialect, level of speech of the person with whom I am conversing. I feel that
this helps communication but sometimes I have to admit that it is taken too far
by myself just for the heck of it.
In these last few days, I have attended two events which
were connected with Maltese Literature and art and I must say that I was not
only intrigued, entertained and stimulated by the performances but really felt
deep down that I should sit up and take more notice of our cultural heritage in
this regard.
Il Hajja Sigrieta tan Nanna Genoveffa performed as a play
was a joy to watch being performed by highly accomplished actors. The highs and
lows, the chiaro scuro of verbal play and emotions could not be better
portrayed and I only heard positive comments about the production, comments
which re-enforced my own.
Yesterday I had an invitation to attend Poezija Plus which
was co organized by the YTC to promote (and commemorate) L Ghanja tal Poplu. I
have personally many positive memories of the Youth Travel Circle and their
constant organizational abilities and have no doubt that this year’s Ghanja
will be better and more organized than any previous one. There seems to be a
resurgence of Maltese folk music which conveys a message, whether contemporary
or otherwise. While I was there, I took some photographs of the event which I
am also posting here. Should anyone feel the need to download or link, please
do so at will.
Eric Bugeja 79284352
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