I would like to preface this discussion with a friend of mine from England, about the independence of Scotland, with a short background of my ancestry.
On my paternal side of the family my ancestor John MacDonald was from the Glencoe area of the Highlands in Scotland. He was sent to the Ulster region of Ireland because he was a "trouble maker", in the year 1690. After the infamous betrayal and massacre at Glencoe, he sent for his childhood sweetheart who somehow survived the attack. They were married and left for America in 1692.
On my maternal side of the family, my grandmother came to America when she was 9 years old. My grandfather's parents were Scots who came to America from England where they had been living.
My mother was born with dual citizenship. My grandmother was aware of the British laws and with her urging (insistence) my parents registered my birth with the British consulate, which gave me dual citizenship. It was from these grandparents that I acquired my sense of pride in my heritage and my interest in politics.
I have been following the news in Scotland, and monitoring some web sites in Scotland for about 4 years and have been watching the Independence Movement in Scotland.
My friend in England and I met through several music forums of which we were members. We began communicating through emails and have discovered that we had much in common.
I have come to respect his opinions. I believe that they are honest and sincere.
I asked my friend if he would write something on what he thought about the Scotland Independence movement in Scotland and if he thought it would be successful. He told me that he felt he was not qualified to offer such an opinion.
The following is a copy of our communications.
I wrote: "I believe that your opinions on what is happening in your (and my) country are as important as those of the politicians. And probably more honest. I believe that things happen that we do not think are right; because we wait until after those things have taken place to speak out. If the politicians feel that they might loose their jobs they may not be as quick to go against the will of the people."
My friend sent the following:
"I do take some pride in my Scots descent although it appears my forebears arrived in Scotland, albeit originally came there from Ireland
So my thoughts re independence for Scotland are a bit scrambled. As I consider myself staunchly 'English', I am perturbed by the break up of the UK. Ireland, Scotland and Wales for decades now have all seemed to pretty much detest the English and want to break away
Although I resisted initially, their views seems so vehement and 'anti', that I long for the day when we are solely England for the English - and break all ties with the other home countries. They want away, so get gone and good riddance. I'm a loyal person and if that isn't being returned I have no qualms in walking away, I won't spend precious time trying to coerce and persuade someone who is determined to do it their way - whatever the pros and cons
It is a very sad time in the UK .......... projections made in the 60s and 70s suggested a wonderful life as 2000 dawned but the reality is far from that. We are a bankrupt nation, all national pride having been knocked out of us by Blair and Brown's catastrophic New Labour policies (some 13 years now) and none more so than the extolling/imposing of diversity and multi-culturism - to the point where we, the ?90% once proud majority indigenous citizenry are made to feel unworthy and worthless, whilst funding all these grand ideas and schemes, to our own mighty detriment
And yes, I'm from the party of Churchill and Thatcher
Where else in the world aside from England are the populace made to quell the pride they feel in their own nation, lest they cause offence to some pissant minority. The word 'Christmas' is virtually outlawed, as in you can hardly wish anyone "Merry Christmas" (ditto on greetings cards and banners) lest some slight be taken. How I envy the pride in their country as shown by the likes of Americans and Australians. How I envy the French as they regularly exhibit that attitude of "My Government, you can take things just so far, but don't dare mess with me to too great an extent - because I will not stand for it!!"
Most issues have many sides to them ......... e.g. the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Watched a docu which made it clear that there are many conflicting factions within Jerusalem/Israel itself, which surely makes dealing with the Arab issue pretty much Mission Impossible out there i.e. if there is so much diversity within the Israeli mentality, how the hell will they ever reach a consensus to bring peace and stability (and some kind of future and hope, for kids of all factions) to the area?
So it is within the UK. The English are fed up to the back teeth with largely funding these other extremely ungrateful home nations e.g. the very expensive Scottish Parliament building (probably ditto the Welsh), seeing that the Scots have access to all kinds of life-saving drugs/medicines denied many in England - and again no doubt largely funded by the hated Sassenachs
Scots take the view that it is oil revenue from 'their' off shore oilfields which has enriched the Treasury at Westminster, so they are 'owed' the right to independence etc.
So there it is ......... pretty complex. I don't feel my warblings merit any inclusion in your Blog, maybe just take on board my feedback."
I replied to my Friend:
"The people of Scotland came from Ireland. They are from the Irish Clan Scots, who like Ireland broke up into Clans.
The British Empire (UK) was and is like a family, with England as the parent and the other groups were like the children. Like many families England enforced rules that were for the good of the family. Many of the children wanted to go out on their own and make their own. Four of the children have always been very rebellious: Ireland, Scotland, and the United States (Irish & Scots at that time) and India. These four openly rebelled. India, Ireland and the United States won their Independence. The Parent (England) learned from their mistakes and allowed some of the rest of the children (Canada, Nova Scotia, Australia, etc.) their Independence and have kept close ties. The children that were geographically closest (Scotland and Wales) were allowed a much greater part in making family decisions.
Of the three rebellious Nations, the United States reconciled many years ago, India is in the process of reconciliation, and Ireland is still hostile.
Reconciliation takes time and Ireland feels that they were very much mistreated.
Those Countries (with the exception of Ireland) have close ties with the UK family and all have treaties to come to the defense of the others.
I do not believe that the Scots and the Welsh detest England: they just think it is time for them to make their own decisions. Growing up is very hard on everyone."
My Friend replied:
"I would counter by saying that from your distance the word 'detest' may seem strong - but living here, I think it's correct and many Englishmen and women share that viewpoint."
I WISH TO THANK MY FRIEND FOR HIS PERSPECTIVE AND THOUGHTS. If there was more dialogue such as this amongst the people of this world there would be much less strife.
I have been carefully studying and thinking about Scotland's Independence for the last 3 years. I have come to the conclusion that it is an unrealistic dream. It is a fairy tale dream that is perpetuated by parents and grandparents. England, Wales and Scotland would become a third rate countries without each other. These movements for independence are led by a minority of small groups for their own personal gains: Politicians to gain or stay in office, Writers, Companies, and Performers for the money they can make by "keeping the pot boiling". Here in America it is the same thing. In the last year we had politicians from 2 different States infer that if they didn't get their own way they might leave the Union. Of course most Americans knew they were talking out of their rear-end. We have commentators on all sides of political spectrum, who make millions by spouting their lies and half-truths. There is a lot of money to made by stirring the pot. Many politicians are rewarded for the way they vote by political contributions.
England, Wales and Scotland are a family of Nations that live on the same island and have a citizenry that interact and travel freely across their borders. Like most families, they have their problems. To illustrate how its citizens really feel, I will illustrate with a story that was told to me by an uncle who was in WW I. As they were going through a town in France that they had just liberated, they saw the following words painted on the side of a building: TO HELL WITH ENGLAND. One of the Scottish soldiers went over to the wall and wrote: AND SCOTLAND TOO.
CLYDE
