The peoples of antiquity were convinced that the gods regularly intervened in their mundane affairs, often taking sides in disputes. Their gods walked among men and were prone to such feelings as jealousy, pride and anger.
As they strode the earth, their affairs mingled with those of humankind, influencing the fates of deities and men alike. The sun, the moon, the stars and the elements were all manifestations of divine will, if not gods themselves. Tempests and storms that wreaked havoc on earthly destiny were signs of divine mood.
The past weeks have been quite eventful on our islands as tempest Helios’ battering arrived right after a series of tremors shook the ground.
The storms severely tested our resilience and laid bare the weaknesses of our own doing.
The superstitious among us attributed the wrath of nature to the anger of god (with a capital G if you like) because our people have abandoned the ways and cultures of old.
Impending abortion amendments, lascivious lifestyles and the highways of sin were all blamed for this clear signal of divine retribution.
For all the damage caused by the storms and tremors, the power of the deity in the sky still lags behind the destructive force of the gods among us.
As before, these gods mingle among mere mortals vying for our worship, all the while being the hidden hand behind the corrosion and deterioration of our quality of life.
It is not too hard to tell a god from a mortal. The gods are imbued with a strong sense of self-entitlement and vie for the positions of power from which they will control every inch of our destiny.
They initially have no power of their own and develop it gradually as they attract more worshippers to their temple. Theirs is the right to decide whether to grant permission to live, to enjoy life, to exist even.
The key is their prerogative never to be accountable. Never to have their actions questioned.
The image of slabs crashing onto a Birkirkara road during demolition works epitomised the hand of the gods among us and their operation.
Theirs is the prerogative to develop, destroy, raze and raise, all the while ignoring the mere mortals whose lives are severely degraded for having the misfortune of existing within the same sphere as the gods.
The gods will take over public land and sell it to the best-connected bidder.
Take the American University of Malta and the charade on accreditation and public land. Without any accountability whatsoever, the gods lied to the mortals and continued to perpetuate the lie even when it was evident to the dullest of brains that this was daylight crookery.
The big electricity con was back in the news too. The gods here feign anger when their efficiency is questioned.
MP Mark Anthony Sammut is asking some very good questions of Energy Minister Miriam Dalli. It turns out that the corrupt dealings that gave us an LNG tanker were only useful to line the pockets of some. In times of need, we still rely on an interconnector built before the gods chose to roam the land in all their glory.
Dalli is unable to reply in any manner other than attacking the messenger. Do not question the gods.
They will toy with your rules. They will want to be president, footballer and referee. They will still have you pay for their wives’ cars when they go into semi-retirement rather than walking off in shame and disgrace.
They will place lesser gods in high places to ensure their reign in this special Olympus is prolonged. For us mortals, all that is left is the hope for survival. So help us, God.