Neighbours

You’ve probably by now seen the news clip featuring Charles Ramsey the saviour of the 10-year captives in Cleveland, Ohio. News crews have been roaming the neighbourhood trying to obtain different angles from neighbours in the area. How long had you lived nearby? Had you noticed anything strange? The usual really. We saw the same thing happen with the Chechen brothers guilty of the bomb plots at the Boston marathon. It’s become one of the main bylines whenever a tragedy happens. From Anders Breivik to Marc Dutroux it’s as though we cannot really accept that the person next door could be your next mass murderer or serial killer.

Then again it’s not like this kind of person go around with a warning label on their forehead. This pampered society of ours is very protected when it comes to labelling – to the point that we need to label the obvious: “Smoking may harm your health” or, as featured on a peanut confection, “May Contain Nuts”. Interaction with neighbours is important in a healthy society because with healthy interaction you get a solid community. One of the largest religions on the planet boasts of a great philosophical maxim that transcends the purely spiritual: “Love thy neighbour as thyself”. At one point in his interview Ramsey  says something that is very telling. I paraphrase here: “The point where a little white girl runs into the hands of a black man, that is the point where you can tell that something is wrong.”

Yes. It’s a very telling statement. Ramsey could afford to make that statement that clearly exposes the divided lines of his corner of the world because the focus was on the saving of the girls. The truth is that everyday life in that part of Cleveland Ohio is probably very much inclusive of little white girls who are brought up to distrust the black men – even if it’s their next door neighbour. Another lady interviewed by the BBC stated that her granddaughter had seen “a naked lady crawling in the backyard”. Her reaction? She told her grandchildren to keep away from that house.

But these things only happen to other people in big countries don’t they? Affarijiet tat-TV. Are we sure about that? The tasteless comments underneath a Times of Malta report regarding the search and rescue operation for the 5 missing French persons might give us a good idea about our good neighbourly policies. Commentators deemed it too expensive. If you allow me the crass comparison we were not even talking about the boatloads of anonymous travellers from the sub-saharan world but of five Europeans – a genre of sailor that is more palatable to the Maltese xenophobe on any other day.

We may profess to be a caring nation with our marathons and fund raisers. It’s hard to find real evidence of this though when you look at the thoughts that run through the minds of many people and that lay bare our scant regard for a more social way of thinking. Before you rush to tell me it’s a small minority who think that way just remember that an overwhelming majority just voted for a party/movement that is at best equivocal on immigration policy. That same movement cut deals with social pariahs such as hunters and constructors showing a penchant for macchiavellian short-cuts so long as power is obtained. Above all, the irony of ironies, remains the Taghna Lkoll slogan – a message that sends out an image of total inclusiveness but that has become a mantra wielded only to set neighbour apart from neighbour in the interest of the few.

To think that it all had begun with a message of love. Inħobbkom.