When good men do nothing
By: Alexiei Dingli
Tags: Poor, Greed, Love, Saint

When good men do nothing

Many people fall through the support net

Throughout my past experiences in various roles, I realised that many people who are going through a rough patch, in general, feel stuck in an alley.

When they seek help from those who should be supporting them, some of them find other broken individuals.

Essentially, they are just going around in a vicious circle. Most tragic of all, many of them are so sick and tired that they have lost all hope.

As the blessed Carlo Acutis once said: “We are all born original but many die as photocopies.” I believe that this quote sums aptly the tragedy of our modern existence.

Many do not know any better than what they experienced during their upbringing — very few venture in new directions to find solutions to their problems. But, as Albert Einstein once said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

That is why education and culture are important because they expose us to different viewpoints. They make us think, form new connections and come up with novel solutions to our problems.

Past mistakes of others become invaluable life lessons for us. In the end, our educational system should help us develop into complete individuals ready to contribute positively to the well-being of our society by supporting others.

But we know that this does not always happen. Many people fall through this support net and feel they have no one to turn to when in need. When this happens, good men have to choose: either do nothing or take action!

By doing nothing, we are just accomplices to the injustice of the world; a world that has enough wealth for everyone but its distribution is grossly imbalanced. Just consider that the world’s richest one percent own almost half of the planet’s riches! The lack of action in front of these injustices also makes us secret allies (as the Pope calls it in his Fratelli Tutti encyclical letter, 2020) of such a broken system.

Ask yourself whether there is someone who needs your help and begin to change the world, starting from your own backyard

Some of us claim to be detached from the wrongs around them, probably because we are living fine. Others pretend to be impartial critics denouncing the evils of society, yet, do nothing to eradicate them. In the end, it all boils down to hidden agendas, where the personal interest triumphs over the tragedies of others.

By being active, we consciously decide to form part of the solution. So, if you are reading this article, decide to do something to change our world. And don’t feel overwhelmed because, as Mother Theresa once said; “Not all of us can do great things but we can do small things with great love.”

Also, we shouldn’t wait for governments or other institutions to solve problems, we have an equal responsibility to create and put in place new processes that bring about change. All we need is the desire to be a community that tirelessly works to include, integrate and lift the fallen. If you don’t know where to start, the good news is that there is ample choice.

Tomorrow, November 15, is the Day of the Poor. The poor are not just those who have nothing to eat or who lack material possessions. As a first, we can look at our own families because, as Mother Theresa would say: “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.”

Many families are infected with the indulgence for material possessions. They go through great sacrifices to obtain these possessions. Soon after, they quickly realise that they’re not satisfied and seek something else. While they are trapped in this cycle, their children and partners are starving for both their time and attention.

The poor are also those around us. The relatives who we seldom call. The invisible neighbours who we don’t even see. A distant smile, a simple greeting or even a phone call can go a long way to free these people from the spectre of loneliness.

If you want to do more, I can think of various organisations. The Soup Kitchen, the Teen Klabb, the RISe (Rehabilitation In Society) Foundation, or the Foodbank Lifeline Foundation are all located in Valletta. But I am sure that there are many others doing sterling work, even in your locality. So why not contact them?

In reality, we are spoilt for choice. If we just open our eyes, we will start noticing the invisible people who live around us; those that we have learnt to ignore. Take small steps and do not be afraid to perform random acts of kindness, even to people we don’t really know.

Do not hesitate to change things because that hesitation might cost that person dear. Some of them might be screaming silently on the inside. Edmund Burke once said: “All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

So, ask yourself whether there is someone who needs your help and begin to change the world, starting from your own backyard, one person at a time.

Alexiei Dingli is former Valletta mayor and the deputy chief administrator of the Soup Kitchen OFM Valletta Foundation, which is spearheading the project. This article was inspired by the Pope’s encyclical published on October 3 entitled ‘Fratelli Tutti’ or ‘All Brothers’.

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