Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/989894
OPINION 24 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 JUNE 2018 When sweeping under the carpet just won't do Evarist Bartolo Evarist Bartolo is minister for education and employment ENGAGING students is a most difficult task for any teacher. It is not easy to get young people excited about something, it never was and still is not. However, the use of contemporary events or happenings to blend with an educational process is an interesting teaching strategy. Take, for example, the World Cup. It could be used for many things in a classroom, such as geography, history or even deeper lessons such as learning mathematical logic by calculating needed results to pass through a particular group stage. I believe this brings about a correlation effort. This is not limited to day-to- day learning, but also to much more difficult and sensi- tive themes that we ought to speak about with young people. Last year, the popu- lar Netflix show '13 reasons why' was centred around the suicide of a 17-year-old. it focused on very sensitive sub- jects such as rape, cyberbul- lying and abuse. It must have been very difficult for the pro- ducers of the show balancing the very raw subjects at hand and the sensitivity, and fragil- ity of its audience which in- variably included young peo- ple. In the second season of the show even more precau- tion was taken with constant reach-out-for-help material being advertised throughout, including discussion with the actors in the series. On social media this series received a lot of attention from young people. It did not win plaudits from everyone, but the raw subject did not deter young people from see- ing it and opening a dialogue. Much effort has gone to make sure the outcomes of such television are ultimately positive, and do not fuel any negative perceptions that young people might have. In Malta, we consider some sub- jects to be a bit of a taboo. But dialogue and communication, even if the subject material is difficult, should not be closed down. In a day and age where young people seem to be locked in their digital worlds, we must do our best as adults to constantly reach out in the real world. As parents, educa- tors and adults it is important that we constantly work on bridging this gap. Such dialogue and openness should not be reserved for young people. It was coura- geous for one of the best foot- ballers in the world, Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta, to discuss difficult moments and his battle with depression. The 34-year-old is the latest name in the world of foot- ball to open up about such challenges, giving strength to many others in the shadows. The sudden death of a close friend was difficult for Iniesta and it took courage for him to confront this in such a public manner. "You feel that it's not you, that you don't enjoy things, that the people around you are just people. You have no feelings or passion," Iniesta told an interviewer. "You end up feeling empty inside and there is a moment that you realise that you can- not take it anymore. When you need help, you have to look for it: at times it's neces- sary. People are specialists; that's what they're there for. You have to use them" he added. "There are moments when your mind is very vulnerable. You feel a lot of doubts. Every person is different, every case. What I'm trying to explain is that you can go from being in good shape to being in a bad way very quickly." These everyday challenges affect each and every one of us, even a World Cup cham- pion. Such words from Iniesta are invaluable to break down barriers and start a conver- sation about these themes. In schools, we must do the same and not be afraid to be a bridge where needed. Parents, family members and friends also play an important role in lending an ear or a helping hand. We must make sure we're there for our family, friends and those close to us in times when sweeping under the carpet just won't do. NOT so much because 'Mintoff the man' (as opposed to 'Mint- off the monument' – and, by extension, 'Mintoff the myth') was never seen wearing one in real life. Heck, even I remember instances when he appeared suited in public... such as the last televised campaign debate before the 1981 election, when I was around 10 or thereabouts. But then again, there is a rea- son I happen to remember that particular detail (and not, for instance, anything he actually said during the debate). It was unusual. People commented about it at the time. And it took some 20 years or so for his nephew Wenzu to finally shed light on the mystery, in an episode of TVM's 'Gganti Tas- Seklu' series. It turns out that 'Uncle Dom' had worn a jacket and tie to that debate, not to make any form of unlikely po- litical (or fashion) statement... but to cover up bruises, cuts and scratches to his arms and torso, acquired while swimming in rough weather the previous day. So there: it took exceptional, extraordinary circumstances to induce 'Mintoff the man' to dress the way his public monu- ment has chosen to preserve his image for posterity. And if a public monument had but one job to do, I would have thought it was to somehow capture the essence of its subject, as he or she looms/loomed in the popu- lar imagination... NOT as he or she might have occasionally appeared when dressed totally out of character. Ah, but how do people re- member Dom Mintoff today? Not exactly an easy question to answer. Let's stick with accou- trement for the time being. In my own mind, Mintoff always appears wearing a tight leather jacket over an open shirt: one hand thrust between trousers and belt – with its trademark horseshoe buckle – and the other free to gesticulate as though waving about an imagi- nary pipe. I'll admit that it's probably an inaccurate image, too; or at best, that it captures only one facet of a clearly multi-faceted historical figure. But if I say so myself, that mental construct of mine tells us a lot more about Dom Mintoff's personality, than that bizarre 'alien in a suit' who now towers above Castille Square... even if (to be fair to the sculptor) the alien does physically resemble the man I remember; and the posture is almost identical to how I described it above (minus the buckle, of course). For starters, it tells us some- thing about Mintoff's non-con- formism: which he often wore (or chose not to wear) much in the same way as a jacket and tie. By all accounts – though naturally with exceptions – Mintoff routinely shunned such events as gala dinners, formal receptions, etc.; and similarly absented himself from occa- sions like Mass at St John's to commemorate national festivi- ties (note: the significance of this latter detail was evidently lost on the organisers of his funeral in 2012. But I'll come back to this point later). It was a persona he cultivated as much as his own personal appearance, and for the same reason: to convey the image of a 'working man's working man'. There is plenty of evidence that this characteristic also car- ried over into his dealings with others. I have heard first-hand accounts of how Mintoff used to occasionally enjoy publicly humiliating people who stood their ground on such mat- ters as 'decorum' and 'proto- col': reminding them to their faces that all their insistence on 'pomp and ceremony' was ultimately meaningless... given that, regardless of what boards they may have chaired, or what social positions they may have occupied... the only true power in this country was wielded by... himself. And in case you're wondering, I'm not even bringing this up as criticism of the man. It was not, perhaps, his most endear- ing personality trait... but there can be no denying that – in the world we are talking about here – Mintoff was perfectly right. There has not been a Prime Minister since (I can't comment about before) who wielded anywhere near the all-but un- limited political power Mintoff wielded over Malta in the 1970s and early 1980s. Eddie Fenech Adami is the only one who comes remotely close: but Eddie's vision was pre-emptively circumscribed by his ambition to join the Raphael Vassallo Historical revisionism? Mintoff in a tie...