To be yourself in today’s world, which is constantly trying to make you something else, is our greatest accomplishment. Every human being has dignity, a gift given to everyone by God. Man is free to choose how he lives, behaves, organises his life, controls what he says, how he sees things around him.
However, he must also respect himself and others since he belongs to a social community. Robert Greene wrote: “The human tongue is a beast that very few can master. It strains constantly to break out of the cage, and, if it is not tamed, it will turn wild and cause you grief.
” Sartre advised: “Give, but don’t allow yourself to be used. Love, but don’t allow your heart to be abused. Trust, but don’t be naive or lose your own voice.
” Do not allow yourself to be used, the French philosopher cautions. However, abuse today is a very big problem. People think they can do whatever they want, even abusing the dignity of others, treating them with cruelty and violence, regularly and repeatedly.
We forget that the beauty of living is a great gift given to us by God, even though, many times, we do not deserve it because of how we live our life. An anthropologist was recently quoted in the media as saying: “Catholicism no longer features in the Maltese identity in practice.” A man without God and faith can do horrible things.
He loses his dignity as a human being and becomes a slave of money, of power and of his possessions. His hidden intentions and his weaknesses are t.