Skimming the scum

Recently I used the Christmas turkey carcass to make a stock.   As the scum rose to the surface, I skimmed  it away.  Scum rising to the surface.  Then the skimming of the scum.  Funny how the metaphors come from nowhere or mundane tasks like skimming the scum.   

There's plenty of scum trying to rise to the surface.  Every day some new outrage or some new revelation.  Meanwhile a few people on Facebook try to give a flattering spin to these stories.  They're in denial, you see.   

So, of course, according to these people,  the culprits are not Joseph Muscat or  Keith Schembri.  Or maybe they are but they're only slightly  in the wrong.   The people definitely in the wrong are the protesters scaring away customers and destroying the economy.   And by the way, the protesters are all PN supporters, chomping at the bit and foaming at the mouth at what they see as an opportunity to be the government again.  

So what if Muscat spent upwards of €20000 on first class flights  for a 3 day Dubai holiday?  You're just jealous.    So what if Muscat uses his diplomatic passport to travel to Bethlehem, the Vatican and London in the days since he's announced his resignation?  Nothing suspicious about this at all.  So what if he was meant to supervise the day to day running of the country in the weeks leading to his resignation?   

So what if the person who is allegedly  (one of) the commissioners of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia gave Muscat a Bvlgari watch worth upwards of €20000 in 2014?  Or was invited to Muscat's birthday party in February 2019 when Muscat had known for months that Fenech was a murder suspect?  Or gave very expensive Petrus bottles of wine as a birthday present?    What business is it of yours?   He works so hard.

On and on the defense of the indefensible continues.  This has been  the case for years  now.    It's exhausting and debilitating.  

So it's refreshing to be  in a crowd of people who do not defend the indefensible.  Who recognise the dangers of the situation our country is in.  Who understand the difficulty of the challenge ahead of us.  But face it down with a stoicism and a determination anyway.  It's good to be in this crowd.  The speeches are a balm to the low spirits, a confirmation that your apprehensions are real, a blasting away of the gaslighting of the PL diehards.    The concert  amplifies the impact of this  lift in spirits.  The lyrics, sung collectively, are cathartic.

We will prevail.   Is-sewwa jirbaħ żgur.  It will take an unknown amount of time but we will  ultimately build a Malta 2.0 together.  One which will function as it is supposed to.  We will continue to apply pressure on Abela or Fearne in the years to come.  We will direct the way for them, on the off chance that they think it will be more of the same forever.  We'll put them right on this score.