So, the UK has voted to leave the EU. A decision I am sad about. I voted to remain. Not so much for political reasons, more the philosophical "humans are better together" kind of thing.
A glance of more than 10 seconds at social media, a listen in supermarket checkout queues, or basically any kind of conversation with anyone in the UK right now will soon tell you that there is a lot of tension regarding the result. It was extremely close: 52/48%. Personally I'm in favour of there being a rule that whenever a vote has huge implications, there needs to be at least a 60/40 split, ideally 70/30, although I doubt that'd ever really happen. That's more a topic for the electoral commission to discuss, and potentially have a consultation for the future.
A lot of tension, anger and sadness seems to be related to the "Are we a racist country? Are we full of bigots?" For me, personally it's quite interesting because although I live in London now, the region I grew up, Yorkshire voted strongly to leave the EU. In fact the town of Barnsley, which for much of my childhood was my nearest town voted 70% in favour of leaving. Most of my friends voted to remain, but 1 or 2 did chose to vote to leave. I found that hard to stomach if I'm honest. Is the region, where I grew up an intolerant place? Why didn't ALL my friends vote remain, surely it's obvious?
Yorkshire, where I grew up has some very happy memories for me. I'm still in touch with my school friends from there, I had my first love, I learned to walk, to talk, to begin the journey of becoming the person I am today. I love the countryside, the dry sense of humour, the Yorkshire puddings, the gentle comedic nature of Last of the summer wine, I love the accent, and I love the fact that each year sportsmen and women from all over the world are welcomed with open arms by huge crowds to the rolling hills of Yorkshire as they cycle their way through the swaying grass lined roads of this beautiful county as they take part in the Tour de Yorkshire. Is this place a racist, bigoted place? Do I need to accept that I'm basically from a nasty part of the world? I don't think so. I think it's a very different place to where I live now. London and Yorkshire are poles apart economically, socially, and demographically. It just means it's different. Different doesn't always mean bad.
Every single person that you meet in life has had ~100 billion neurons form who they are. They've formed what their opinions are, how they form their opinions, what they are suggestable to, how they prioritise, and what their driving forces (core values) are. These little bits in their brains have combined with hundreds of thousands of experiences, blended together to make them, "them". I think the worst thing that we can do right now, at a time of identity crisis is to say to anyone that your life's experiences are more valid and true than theirs. Whilst, as a remain voter, I would say that I have had the fortune to experience the benefits of travel, international colleagues and connections that are absorbed in a big city, others have not had those experiences. They might not want them, they might have had them and had a more negative experience. But everything that they are is formed from what they have experienced in their lives. I think it's perfectly fine to say to someone that I believe your experiences and my experiences in life have lead us to different conclusions about what's most/less unhelpful, but I think it's healthy to remember the importance of respect of that person is them, because that's who they are now.
If we disrespect and remove ourselves from those whose views differ from ours, we will only perpetuate the notion that we are far more divided than we actually are when we scratch the surface. Pretty much all of us are in fact driven by eating, sleeping, drinking, living somewhere safe, pooping, and trying to be happy in life. The rest is *just* opinion. I'm personally of the view that if we can all keep talking, let each other be as we are, even more so with those who we deem to be different, then collectively we can all learn from one another, and from that both sides can develop new strategies to evolve.
We're all just tiny little people, part of one species on one planet, on which there are millions of species, in one galaxy, all waiting for the sun to explode. It actually doesn't really matter. But yes, we can all make our time a little bit more connected. So if you'll join me, I'd like to walk with you, whatever your colour, race, gender, voting profile and if I may, learn a little bit about how your life made the person you are.
A glance of more than 10 seconds at social media, a listen in supermarket checkout queues, or basically any kind of conversation with anyone in the UK right now will soon tell you that there is a lot of tension regarding the result. It was extremely close: 52/48%. Personally I'm in favour of there being a rule that whenever a vote has huge implications, there needs to be at least a 60/40 split, ideally 70/30, although I doubt that'd ever really happen. That's more a topic for the electoral commission to discuss, and potentially have a consultation for the future.
A lot of tension, anger and sadness seems to be related to the "Are we a racist country? Are we full of bigots?" For me, personally it's quite interesting because although I live in London now, the region I grew up, Yorkshire voted strongly to leave the EU. In fact the town of Barnsley, which for much of my childhood was my nearest town voted 70% in favour of leaving. Most of my friends voted to remain, but 1 or 2 did chose to vote to leave. I found that hard to stomach if I'm honest. Is the region, where I grew up an intolerant place? Why didn't ALL my friends vote remain, surely it's obvious?
Yorkshire, where I grew up has some very happy memories for me. I'm still in touch with my school friends from there, I had my first love, I learned to walk, to talk, to begin the journey of becoming the person I am today. I love the countryside, the dry sense of humour, the Yorkshire puddings, the gentle comedic nature of Last of the summer wine, I love the accent, and I love the fact that each year sportsmen and women from all over the world are welcomed with open arms by huge crowds to the rolling hills of Yorkshire as they cycle their way through the swaying grass lined roads of this beautiful county as they take part in the Tour de Yorkshire. Is this place a racist, bigoted place? Do I need to accept that I'm basically from a nasty part of the world? I don't think so. I think it's a very different place to where I live now. London and Yorkshire are poles apart economically, socially, and demographically. It just means it's different. Different doesn't always mean bad.
Every single person that you meet in life has had ~100 billion neurons form who they are. They've formed what their opinions are, how they form their opinions, what they are suggestable to, how they prioritise, and what their driving forces (core values) are. These little bits in their brains have combined with hundreds of thousands of experiences, blended together to make them, "them". I think the worst thing that we can do right now, at a time of identity crisis is to say to anyone that your life's experiences are more valid and true than theirs. Whilst, as a remain voter, I would say that I have had the fortune to experience the benefits of travel, international colleagues and connections that are absorbed in a big city, others have not had those experiences. They might not want them, they might have had them and had a more negative experience. But everything that they are is formed from what they have experienced in their lives. I think it's perfectly fine to say to someone that I believe your experiences and my experiences in life have lead us to different conclusions about what's most/less unhelpful, but I think it's healthy to remember the importance of respect of that person is them, because that's who they are now.
If we disrespect and remove ourselves from those whose views differ from ours, we will only perpetuate the notion that we are far more divided than we actually are when we scratch the surface. Pretty much all of us are in fact driven by eating, sleeping, drinking, living somewhere safe, pooping, and trying to be happy in life. The rest is *just* opinion. I'm personally of the view that if we can all keep talking, let each other be as we are, even more so with those who we deem to be different, then collectively we can all learn from one another, and from that both sides can develop new strategies to evolve.
We're all just tiny little people, part of one species on one planet, on which there are millions of species, in one galaxy, all waiting for the sun to explode. It actually doesn't really matter. But yes, we can all make our time a little bit more connected. So if you'll join me, I'd like to walk with you, whatever your colour, race, gender, voting profile and if I may, learn a little bit about how your life made the person you are.
