Lessons to be learnt from immigrants

A few days ago, while on the bus reading Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando's Facing Up To A Problem about illegal immigration, a particular incident took place.

The bus was full, mostly with Maltese youngsters. A group of immigrants was sitting two seats away from me. You could hear these immigrants talking and arguing even from miles away! A very old man with a white beard came aboard but there were no seats for him. Still, no one seemed to care, not even I at that particular moment. To my surprise, the yelling and shouting ceased when an immigrant gave up his seat politely for that old man. I was only a spectator of this unnoticed episode.

Although I am against illegal immigration for various reasons, perhaps there are, after all, things that are worth noticing and learning from some of these so-called uninvited people. The question I asked myself afterwards was whether we are losing an important value that is not worth losing: Solidarity with our own brothers. Clearly, charity begins at home.

"Let the world change you and you can change the world." - Ernesto Guevara