As shock turns to anger and frustration begins to set in, we are left looking at one another, wondering how and why we all got here. As we rack our brains, point fingers and digest the details that unfold we should truly start to rationalise how we will all go on to become better people.

Education must play a big part.

We need to educate ourselves and teach our younger generations that the fundamental freedoms and rights that our ancestors fought so hard for are sacrosanct to the workings of a true democracy such as ours. Freedom of expression is, of course, one such freedom but it certainly does not stand as the only one. We must uphold and celebrate the right to life, freedom of conscience and belief, freedom to associate, the right to private property, the right to due process and fair hearing, and so forth.

Assuming we are all born with an innate understanding of these basic rights and freedoms or that they are just the domain of lawyers, philosophers, journalists and other like-minded individuals is superficial and naive. Assuming that respect for these rights and freedoms is being passed down from father to son and mother to daughter in all our homes is, in retrospect, derisory.

In advocating tolerance, respect and love for one’s neighbour, the Church has traditionally served as our mentor, promoting the very values and principles reflected in these fundamental rights, freedoms and human liberties. Sadly, we have turned our back on our mentors. We cannot blame the Church for not trying, though. Its message has remained constant and its efforts to communicate it have multiplied. We can only blame ourselves for not listening.

Likewise, we have written off the teachings of our parents and grandparents as out of sync with the fast-paced, high-tech world we now prosper and thrive in.

We have discarded as inept and old-fashioned many of the core values that were passed down and inherited from our elders. We have branded the messengers antiquated and passé and, to our detriment, we have stopped listening to their messages.

Yet there is much we can and must still do.

We question whether the rule of law is being upheld when respect towards the State and its institutions is undermined

As parents and grandparents in our homes and as educators in our schools we need to teach our children and our students that the building blocks of a modern democratic society are cemented firmly in the rights and freedoms enshrined in our Constitution and in our laws.

They are termed fundamental and basic human rights and freedoms precisely because they are just that – pivotal, central and inescapable.

Mutual tolerance and respect for each other’s rights are not optional or voluntary but the firm bedrock of the social contract we have all signed up to in a State governed by the people under the rule of law.

As guardians of our common good, educators and parents need to impart a sense of dutiful respect for the State and its institutions – which, of course, need to lead by example and be deserving of our respect.

The rule of law is a corollary of respect for the State. In any democracy, the State is the ultimate guarantor of the rule of law and the fundamental rights and freedoms it espouses. We question whether the rule of law is being upheld when respect for the State and its institutions is undermined.

We need to stop dyeing our core values and beliefs in red, blue, green or orange, because they belong to every one of us indiscriminately. They belong to us all precisely because they are universal in any modern democracy worth its salt.

We need to teach our children and our students to embrace these values, liberties and rights as Maltese citizens first and foremost. They belong to us because we are Maltese and Europeans, not because they are associated with a creed or political belief we may wish to profess.

Our political parties need to avoid the temptation to usurp and thus politicise the values that belong to us all as Maltese.

Indeed, the very right to profess any creed or associate with any group is an exercise of the fundamental freedom to associate freely and without restraint. Just as the right to expect the protection of our home is a direct consequence of our freedom to have private property.

Just as the protection of one’s life at all costs follows from the exercise of the most fundamental freedom to live. And just as the right to express oneself freely is an exercise of one’s freedom of speech.

Any upright member of our community should have a firm grasp of these principles. Our schools should ensure that students embrace them. Our students must profoundly understand the fabric that underpins their society if they are to be prepared holistically as upstanding and outstanding members of the European democracy we ardently and correctly claim to be.

Matthew Bianchi is a lawyer and the chairman of San Anton School.

The Times of Malta and The Sunday Times of Malta have launched a campaign to raise awareness of the need to strengthen the rule of law, bolster the independence of institutions and increase controls over the exercise of power by the government of the day.