The most frequently asked question of Maltese expatriates visiting their homeland, is what it feels like living abroad, amidst a culture different from the Mediterranean mold and mindset, in which they were born and bred. It is a query deserving more than a cursory response, one ridden with deep imbedded psychological feelings, which affect people emotionally in different ways. The experience of migrating to distant shores, and an uncertain future, in return for which one leaves behind familiar faces, places and events is a traumatic painful undergoing, one which is often sugarcoated with euphoric expectations, that somehow life will improve once the shores of Malta fade away in the far horizon.
The transition from living on a small insular island, where attitudes, behavior, lifestyles are historically parochial, and imbedded in centuries old traditions, to finding's ones self struggling for survival amidst a massive nation with a large heterogeneous population, represents an indelible experience like none other. The feeling of security, living safely inside a cocoon weaved for the most part by Catholic theology, is instantly replaced by one of bewilderment set amidst the vastness of unfamiliar open space, and an infinite range of conflicting religious and social attitudes expressed by a racially mixed population. What is true of geography equally applies in the realm of consciousness. Whereas in Malta distance is measured by mere kilometers between two farthest points, abroad a daily one-way trip to the office might entail a hundred or more. Friends and co-workers with whom one commutes are likely to be ethnically and racially diverse, which makes for a sentient reminder of the checkered social fabric that adds meaning and substance to great nations who welcome outsiders in their midst, searching for a better life.
While Malta is a pretty sub-tropical island nation located center stage in the blue Mediterranean, it is deprived of natural features such as mountains, rivers, forests, wildlife and other such God given wonders. By contrast America, Canada and Australia, the three countries that harbor large numbers of Maltese expatriates, are blessed with wilderness areas and recreational parks, which feature the best in nature. This same sense of being devoured whole by seeming infinite space, affects fellow Maltese, as they compare the smallness of their island of birth with the enormous landscape(s) which surrounds them. To cite but one example the Grand Canyon National Park in Northwestern Arizona covers about 1,200,000 acres of canyons, cliffs, hills, ridges, rocks, river falls, forests and valleys large enough to contain Malta many times over.
This same discomforting feeling of disproportionate scale is manifest in the manner in which every day life churns. In Malta folks live in a miniature world where everybody seemingly knows everybody else, and government/private business is conducted in Byzantine fashion with a heavy overdose of nepotism. No such cozy arrangements await Maltese immigrants living abroad. Instead, isolated from family and friends they are faced with fiercely competitive dog eat dog propositions, placing them at distinct job compensation and advancement disadvantages when coping with rival native born workers. Against overwhelming odds many have nevertheless managed to gain prominence in their chosen field of technical and professional endeavors. Behind their success lies a bedrock of Maltese family and ethical work values, which stood them good during times of need.
It is in the realm of how well Maltese expatriates fit into the mainstream society of their adopted country, rather than in geographical comparisons, that counts. No conclusion will be accurate unless the matter of different age brackets is taken into account. Not unexpectedly the hardest hit by the difference in lifestyles is the first generation of older settlers that sets foot on foreign soil. The so called culture shock is felt most keenly by older folks, who by virtue of habit, feel disillusioned or uncomfortable with adopting new ways for old of getting things done. For them it is near impossible to let loose of their Maltese mindset in favor of adopting foreign methods, even as they are clearly an improvement. No matter how long they live abroad, and how well or poorly they make out, their mental disposition and soul remain essentially Maltese. Even their manner of speaking English remains heavily accented with Maltese expressions, literally translated word for word with native phonetic fluctuations. At the other extreme end are younger children who naturally pick up new ways given their malleable minds and the absence of a strong mental imprint on things Maltese. The future belongs to the young, and within months of settling down the children act and speak indistinguishably from native folks. On balance Maltese settlers overseas have as already noted, assimilated well under adversarial conditions of stress and hardships.
It is the in-between set which carries the heaviest burden. Young to middle age adults go through years of transition where they feel neither fully Maltese nor whole citizens of their adopted countries. The fulcrum swings from one extreme to center point, than on to the opposite end with agonizing slowness. In North America and Australia, where acceptance of Maltese immigrants is well established the process of assimilation is usually successful. The feeling of belonging in a foreign land accelerates with the birth of children and grandchildren, at which point the conflict of identity lessens, while the bond between individuals and their new land matures and prospers. Eventually a point of accommodation will have been reached where a person is comfortable being a dual citizen of two countries with which he/she closely relates. In recognition of this situation Malta has recently changed its law to retroactively reinstate Maltese citizenship to its sons and daughters that had previously been denied it upon taking on a foreign nationality.
As the world grows smaller and transforms into a global village, the feeling of hurt and pain, which people once strongly felt upon leaving Malta for the promised land, will greatly diminish. When travel time and distance are no longer insoluble factors, and Malta will have become a member state of the European community, the act of departing Malta will no longer be of much fanfare or consequence. Malta will have become part and parcel of the international community. As such natural geographical boundaries, which in the past kept her in relative isolation from foreign intrusion, will no longer apply. In this likely scenario the old dynamics of exclusion, which aggravated ties between Maltese domiciled in Malta and members of the Maltese diaspora abroad, will no longer apply. In a world of rapid changes in lifestyles and attitudes, where cultural fusion becomes the rule rather than the exception, the state of metamorphosing for future generations of immigrants will no longer apply. Ultimately however home is where one's heart is.
E-mail to Joseph Vella: vellajoseph@msn.net
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