A few days ago, while I was doing a round of home visits in the beautiful Msida I had the opportunity to meet a lovely elderly women that reminded me so much of my grandma. Since it was already past 8pm I was very cautious about intruding, however as soon as she opened the door her face flourished and she greeted me with a lovely, genuine smile that warms your heart. After some small talk she insisted that I had to go in and to share a coffee and some homemade biscuits with her. I must admit, the biscuits were divine! I have to return to savor some more of them.
This lady, in all her honesty and her many years of wisdom, spent the next half an hour recounting her love for our hometown. She told me how different Msida is today to how it was back in the 40’s. How she used to run in the streets from dusk till dawn. She told me the sad story of how she met her husband at the tender age of 17, only to lose him 2 years later for an illness. She remained a window ever since and never had the opportunity to build a family of her own. Instead she dedicated her life to her profession, that of a teacher. She recounted the many children that she helped develop. The many hours of private lessons she delivered in her well-kept house. All in all, in half an hour this individual shared her life with me. I didn’t even have time to talk, all I did was listen and acknowledge, that’s about it. Those 30 minutes, she shared her life with me and I wasn’t allowed to intervene.
It was her moment, her 30 minutes of sharing and it was my duty to listen. When she was satisfied that I knew her life story, she offered me another biscuit (very important detail!) and asked me a very simple question. Why did you get involved in politics? A very short, simple yet so powerful question. A question which I was asked on many occasions and on other circumstances I would have gone on a tangent and explain to the person why I got involved with the Nationalist Party and in politics. However on this occasion, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to say not because I felt unconvinced of my previous answers, not because I was doubting my earlier conviction as to why I’m involved in politics; however I was left without words because all of a sudden it dawned on me, even more clear than ever before. The real reason why I got involved in politics is very simple, I want to change the world.
You may think I’m going slightly mad, or getting ahead of myself, but no. Yes I want to change the world, I want to change the world we live in for each and every individual. For those 30 minutes, I had the opportunity to listen to the old lady talking to me. I changed her world because for the whole day she was waiting for someone to share a word with and I gave her this opportunity. For this woman, I changed her world because I gave her time to express herself and do what she wanted to do.
Changing the world shouldn’t be difficult if we do it one person at a time. We need to always look at the bigger picture, but we need to keep checking the pulse to what matters the most to the individual. We need to ensure that we’re there, that we’re listening, that we’re eager to be part of their family, that way we can change the world for each and every single individual. Most people don’t need anything in particular, they just want to know that there’s someone that can listen to them if and when they need to.
When I left that woman’s house it was well past daylight, she sent me off with a genuine hug and I couldn’t have been happier, I couldn’t have been happier because I knew that for that day I made someone happy.
It’s moments like these that makes it all worthwhile. All those long nights of strategy planning, home-visits, telephone calls, meetings etc are all made worthwhile in little beautiful moments such as these. For that I promise you, that I shall continue promoting my very simple message; I want to rest my constituent’s minds that I will be there for them. That’s all I can promise!
