Miguel de Cervantes’ classic 16th century novel, Don Quixote de la Mancha, deals with a delusional man who can no longer tell the difference between fantasy and reality.
Don Quixote himself is presented to us as comical character, in a novel which remains arguably one of the funniest ever written. But there is nonetheless something deeply pathetic and unwholesome about the concept of an adult who refuses to acknowledge the reality of the world around him; and above all, who avoids it by digging himself ever deeper into a fantasy world of his own invention.
Cervantes ends his novel with a telling twist. To cure Quixote of his infirmity, his closest friends hit upon the strategy of pitting him against the “Knight of Mirrors”, who forces the ageing Don to confront the truth about his own condition. As a result, Quixote is cured of his madness, but at the same time also loses his enthusiasm for life. The overall message appears to be that magic and romance, even if delusional, nonetheless offer certain people a necessary refuge from the horrors of reality.
So much for fictitious fools. Today, five centuries after the man from La Mancha, it seems that Malta needs its own Knight of Mirrors to cure it of what is fast becoming a manifest case of delusion on a national scale.
Two recent revelations have brought home the shocking reality that, faced with clear evidence of a fast-changing lifestyle and an increasing health risk posed by lack of education, the present authorities simply refuse to update any of our country's policies accordingly, with consequences which could be very serious for the future.
A study conducted among Maltese schoolchildren revealed that 64% of respondents who admitted to having sex, also claimed to have never used a condom. Parallel studies – including the one presented to the Health Department last week, with a view to formulating a much-needed National Sexual Health Policy – also reveal that Malta, perhaps unsurprisingly, boasts the highest European incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as Chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis.
There is further statistical evidence that more Maltese teenagers drop out of school because of pregnancy than in any other European country.
According to Dr Philip Carabot, head of the genito-urinary unit at the Sir Paul Boffa Hospital, local cases of STDs have at least doubled recently. In his own words, the situation represents “a serious indictment of our country’s entire sex education programme”.
From this perspective, the health department's reaction this week to a proposal for a national policy on sexual health was little short of scandalous. It seems that the policy document, submitted by the Sexually Transmitted Infections Prevention Committee, was returned with almost every reference to the word “condom” deleted. According to Dr Carabot, the result was to reduce the policies contained within the document to mere rhetoric... something which enjoys a long track record of dismal failure when it comes to addressing real issues and problems.
Condoms may admittedly not be 100% safe in preventing STDs or even pregnancy... but they remain a very great deal safer than having unprotected sex, which is what the vast majority of our teenage children are doing, as statistics have repeatedly confirmed.
Government has since distanced itself from the gaffe, but by refusing to reverse the decision, it gives the impression of a deep-seated inability to face up to the reality of the situation. And apart from the immediate concern – i.e., that Malta will for the foreseeable future lack a serious sexual health policy – the implications for other areas of public interest are very worrying indeed.
To put it bluntly: if a government cannot be trusted to insist on a national sexual health policy which doesn't distort the reality it seeks to address, then by the same logic it cannot be trusted to formulate policy on any issue whatsoever.
Besides, if the government will continue burying its head in the sand, even when our children’s health is at manifest risk... then how anyone have faith that it will not behave the same way when confronted with other issues of national importance?
It seems we are dealing with a classic case of self-delusion, identical to that of Don Quixote de la Mancha in every detail except for one.
Don Quixote made us laugh. Government’s irresponsibility, especially when confronted with such a serious issue, has quite the opposite effect.