We are likely to remember 2010 as a year of challenge and of collective loss. Challenge due to a changing economic climate during which all European countries were placed under strain; and loss because of the departure of two personalities who were larger than life.
People’s ability to cope with tougher financial circumstances in the face of a worldwide recession, as our survey indicates today, has risen in the past 12 months to the top of the national agenda.
With the exception of divorce, respondents in the survey mentioned financial issues – from the cost of living to employment to low wages – when asked about their biggest concerns.
Paradoxically, though 56 per cent believe that 2011 will be better for them than 2010, almost half of the respondents are of opinion that the economy will take a turn for the worse rather than improve.
There may be a logical explanation to these seemingly contrary conclusions: while this government has undoubtedly stewarded the economy soundly over the past 12 months – safeguarding jobs, stimulating growth and reducing the deficit, with limited pain compared with other countries – it has floundered at times on the political front.
It has failed to adequately explain to voters what positive economic action it has been taking – relying too much on a strategy, if it can be called such, of expecting people to see things for themselves and then reach their own conclusions – and peppering this approach with a series of blunders that give the impression it is out of touch.
The timing and manner in which the recent salary increases to MPs and ministers was handled is just one of a list of examples. If put in the right context and introduced at the right time, no one would question paying more to attract the best people to public life.
But when information filters through in a cack-handed manner during a period when voters are feeling financially pressed, an adverse reaction is obvious to all but the politically deaf and blind. If the government has one major challenge in 2011, aside from the economy, it is to better assess the pulse of the people and show more understanding of their concerns.
The two major figures that Malta and Gozo lost in the latter months of the past year – Guido de Marco and Bishop Nikol Cauchi – had no such difficulties. Both were close to the public they served and both possessed the gift of communication, which enabled them to get their message across with commensurate ease.
There is no doubting they served different purposes and had different styles. Prof. de Marco was a masterful politician with an ebullient style who loved the public glare, while Mgr Cauchi was a committed clergyman who, although outspoken at times, preferred to allow his true character to shine in private.
Yet the two of them met the numerous difficulties they faced with dignity and always sought peaceful solutions to thorny problems. Through their words, actions and use of the media, they managed to have a profound effect on many people’s lives – even if they did not always achieve their objectives.
Above all, however, the two men chose their respective paths because they were driven by principles and possessed – along with a few others who belong to their generation – a profound sense of duty.
They may no longer be with us, but we would be doing them and ourselves a disservice if we do not try to emulate them in at least this respect. Sadly, too many of us these days have cast aside such qualities.
Happy New Year.