Michael Zammit Cutajar writes:

For the first time in my life, I have lost a friend to Death. Not my oldest friend, but a very special one. One whom I could approach at any time about anything: matters of State, of the heart, of the soul. One whose experience, wisdom and insights influenced me, changed me, opened my eyes to the charms and idiosyncrasies of our native country and its society that I had left at an early age to study and work abroad.

My friendship with Lino Spiteri started in the late 1970s, after we met at a distant international conference. I was then moving from a steady career path into a more adventurous space, in a movement promoting ‘development alternatives’. Lino helped me to put out feelers to alternative thinkers in Malta across the political spectrum.

As our friendship matured, so did our discussion of politics: his re-entry into the political sphere, the mechanics of an election campaign, the perverse result of the 1981 election and its later remedy, the other perverse result of the 1992 contest for the leadership of his party, the ebb and flow of political projects and political fortunes since then …

But political education was not Lino’s main legacy to me. The gift from him that I treasure most was an appreciation of Malta’s natural beauties and its ways of life – in their grandeur and in their detail – particularly our countryside and people who live there. He nurtured the revival of my Maltese roots.

The habitual venue for our conversations was a country walk, often along the Dingli cliffs, drinking in the views and seeking out the sunset. One of the poignant moments of his last months was when, in midsummer, I realised that Lino no longer had the strength for such a walk.

Conversations fade but sunsets persevere, reminding us of the beauty of nature, of the inevitability of death, of the promise of rebirth. So now, as I see my friend in the faces of his dear ones – saddened by their loss, glowing with happy memories – I know that I can always find him in the sunset and, God willing, meet him beyond it when my time comes.