As I live just outside Burmarrad, I often drive into the sprawling city centre for a loaf of bread. On such an occasion only this morning, I parked my car in a small side road in front of a small house, where a little, ogling and beady eyed man was visibly perturbed, as I took what he obviously considered to be his own private parking space, simply because it was located directly in front of his door.

I couldn’t help thinking how massively different we all are to each other.

Here we were, two men of roughly the same age and the same nationality, living within one kilometre of each other, yet apparently holding such unfathomably different views on life.

This man’s universe obviously extended only 3 metres outside his front door – just enough to park his car within it. And I am sure that that is exactly where it ended. I suppose that we all know this type, followed closely by those who still think that they have priority in their village, over those who came to live there from neighbouring towns. Then of course there is the North – South concept in Malta, similarly to so many other countries, and the people from Gozo who consider Gozo theirs and not of the Maltese.

So much parochialism incredibly still exists around us, and so many simply refuse to move on.

The next level up are the many Maltese who consider Malta to belong to them and to them only. Although technically with Schengen in place, it really belongs equally to all countries within this treaty, as all their nationals have the same rights of movement and residence as the Maltese do. This is closely followed by the rest of the EU citizens, who can still exercise their rights in Malta, which is really and truly now part of a larger territory made up of these 28 nations.

So what Mr. Burmarrad is forgetting is that a family may arrive not from across the fields opposite, as I did, but from say Stockholm, settle exactly next door to him and park their Saab right in front of his door every single day and have every right to do so.

But while so many remain firmly stuck in their provincial attitude, I personally go further that this, much further. From a very young age I have distinctly felt that I am a global citizen, or as it is beautifully termed in French, a citoyen du monde.

My direct ancestor Alexander the Great, travelled from his tiny Macedonia to invade enormous swathes of central and Southern Asia, because that was his ambition, spreading Greek culture and genes in the process.

The Romans occupied the known Western world and brought with them so much knowledge and advancement. As did after them the Arabs and the Moors who invaded almost half of Europe. It is said in scientific circles that the Mongols inhabited so much of the known world, that the majority of people living today, actually have some direct lineage from Genghis Khan himself.

Later on many European countries invaded much of the world, this time incorporating literally every continent. The British, the French and the Spanish alone, controlled most nations and territories around the globe at one time or another. And as all the others before them, they really did not do it with much finesse. They bulldozed their way ruthlessly, bearing bibles and crosses, inquisitions and long sleeves and trousers and everything European, eradicating anything which was not conducive to their habitual lore. Entire cultures were all but eradicated, such as the Aborigines and the Native American Indians, while others were totally and forever wiped off the face of the earth.

Some went in war and some went in peace. Millions of Italians, Greeks and Irish, just to mention a few obvious nationalities, left their countries bearing only hope of a better life, as they emigrated to countries like the USA, Canada and Australia.

Similarly the Maltese left by the shipload, first to North Africa at the beginning of the 20th century, ironically settling in places such as Alexandria, Benghazi, Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers and Oran, then mainly to the UK and to other English speaking countries after the war, and until very recent times.

People have always moved and travelled to better their conditions from time immemorial. We are all a big mixture of nations, of peoples and of origins. We really do not have to look very far to find a perfect example of such total integration. Our own country is a great melting pot made up principally of Phoenician – which is present day Lebanon close to Beirut, Turkish, North African, Italian, French, Spanish and British lineage.

Suffice to say that we speak a semitic language, we greatly resemble Arabs and Turks both physically and in so many other ways, however we now form part of Europe from a cultural and political point of view.

This natural process of human movement continues today, as it always has, mainly with people from Africa and the Middle East moving into Europe, and with people from Latin America moving North into the USA and Canada.

Nothing has changed and nothing is new. It has always been the poor and the wretched trying to upper their status and to improve their plight and unfortunately they have always been looked down upon by their richer host country.

The situation was the same for the illiterate, exclusively Maltese speaking immigrants in Australia and elsewhere, some of whom still struggle with English forty years later. In England for many decades the word Maltese was synonymous with low down thieving pimp, and for good reason. In many communities the Maltese were generally considered as second class citizens and poor immigrants for so many years. And as everyone on this planet tends to do, possibly especially Europeans, they take their customs and their newspapers and their pastizzi and their language with them. Yes we all do that, hence Chinatown and any-other-country-town and Little Italy and little this and the other!

However if we really consider this issue, nobody on earth has tried and succeeded in imposing their language and their customs on other nations more effectively than Europeans.

But even up to this day, the West, which we look at generally as the good guys, simply because we are part of it, still does not always travel in peace. It still continues to forcefully invade and take over, or in certain cases it tries and it fails, to occupy entire countries to the South and to the East. Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq instantly come to mind.

The West meddles in the affairs of most countries. It supports Israel and suppresses Palestine. It manipulates dictators and puppet governments, putting them into power and then toppling them. It supports and provides weapons to the factions and the terrorists of choice, who happen to be favoured at the moment. It makes all sorts of deals, often double-crossing both sides, as it secretly assists all of them, so as to retain a total position of force. It strives for power and oil and influence wherever it can, unlike Arab, Asian and African countries, which do not have the resources, or the clout, or the desire, or the ego, to do this to any Western nation.

In my eyes nobody owns the land, in the same way that nobody owns the sea and the air. We have not only a right but a duty to seek better conditions for ourselves and our families. In the same way defectors from the previous Eastern Block risked their lives to escape their lack of freedom, in the same way so many Maltese left their homeland simply out of ambition, people living unimaginable conditions of poverty, murder and rape should and must find a way of surviving. And in many cases the only way is to make the perilous journey to Europe.

My one biggest argument is this – I would do exactly the same!

We face today horrific incidents such as Paris and Beirut, byproducts of our meddling in other people’s affairs. It is extremely unlikely that Isis would ever have existed if the Americans had never invaded Iraq, in search of the mythical weapons of mass destruction which never even existed. The Muslims themselves are by far the biggest victims of terrorism and what the Parisians just went through would be a quiet day in parts of Syria and Iraq. And naturally I say this in infinite respect and compassion with my French brethren.

Yet in the face of so much horror and human suffering, we slam our doors and close our minds. We do not even let them park their car unless they live in our same road. Some obsess about the colour of their skin and others about their religion.

Human migration will never stop. We ourselves have sought to share and enjoy the riches of other nations by traveling there in hoards. We are proud that we went there with nothing and came back with a small fortune.

Now it is our turn to give a little bit back.