With certain individuals, the potential for whining and complaining really knows no limit. Unlike the capacity for empathy, which could really do with a good boost.

The latest issue to catch the attention of the Maltese gemgem is the opening of the dog park at Ta' Qali. I would have thought that it is pretty much impossible to find anything to criticise about this initiative.

Whether you actually own a dog or not, is totally irrelevant; my reasoning is that there can't possibly be any objections to taking a disused piece of land and turning it into a place where dogs can have some fun off the lead. Particularly given that they are banned from beaches and public gardens.

My reasoning, it appears, is totally off the mark. It didn't take too long for the complaints to start sprouting on social media and news websites. The biggest complaint, from what I could gather, is that this is all "money down the drain".

Selfish, much? I'm not sure if it's a sign of the times or whether as a nation we've always tended to score low on empathy, but seems to me like too many people can't be bothered with anything that is not of direct benefit to them.

If your first reaction upon learning about the opening of a dog park is to ask yourself what you will gain out of it, then boy do you have a problem. All those of you who have somehow managed to get the negative comments going, read my lips: not everything revolves around you and the sooner you learn this the faster we can continue on our attempt to join the rest of the civilised world.

The "money down the drain" comments are nothing but a crass display of intolerance disguised as righteous indignation. We had racing enthusiasts lambast the project because, well because it's not related to motoring so what the hell is government thinking? The list of grievances continued: the money should've been spent on education, on the war against poverty, on saving the rainwater, on putting more roast chicken in our ovens... Yes, we do have a gift for turning the most mundane issue into the surreal.

Get a grip on yourselves, why don't you? The other issues mentioned are important, certainly - well, education and poverty are; I'm still unsure about the relevance of roast chicken – but this doesn't mean that everything else is a "waste of money".

There are many investments/expenses that our government chooses to make and that I don't really care for. Our participation in the Eurovision song festival, for starters – totally useless. The building of more churches – because heavens forbid Mr & Mrs Obesity need to walk more than two blocks away from home to get to mass, right? Or how about more children's playgrounds – I don't have kids, so that's money down the drain too.

I'd be a very sad human being if I really believed everything that I wrote in the previous paragraph, if I really thought that just because something is useless to me, then it doesn't have a place in the world.

So how about you all put a sock in it and practice a spot of empathy, huh?

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