An Olive Branch – my open letter to the UK
I’ve tried hard to leave my fears for the future and disappointment in the EU Referendum vote (mostly) off the blog. Written by a good friend, what follows is a guest post from someone who voted Leave.
[wp_ad_camp_2]
The letter doesn’t offer a solution, nor does it promise to do so. It doesn’t state “why I voted Leave”, it contains no admission of feeling that the result was right or wrong and it doesn’t proportion blame.
You can read my thoughts on the Brexit here, including the fact that I voted to stay.
In the meantime, enjoy this guest post written by someone who voted to leave.
Guest post: An Olive Branch – my open letter to the UK
Dear Family, Friends, and fellow Countrymen.
By now you are likely tired of reading about the referendum, anxious of the consequences, and sick of reading nonsense from self-proclaimed experts on politics and ‘what this means for our future’.
Writing heals me. It allows me to relieve my soul of pent up angst that in time, would make me a bitter person. So forgive my poor grammar, my inability to write as eloquently as I would like, and for posting more nonsense across social media.
I’m an emotional little thing, and this is a very emotive letter.
On Friday morning, 24th June, my Fiancé woke me and told me the news that the people had voted to leave the EU. A wave of emotions ran through me, shock, fear, hope, excitement. I felt sick, the adrenaline coursing through me – fight or flee I believe it’s known as.
Over the last 3 days I have seen some of my oldest and dearest friends fall into despair as soon as they learned of the referendum result.
Friends whose jobs heavily rely on the EU, friends from European countries who have made their way to Britain to make a better life for their children, and friends who have taken the plunge and moved their lives and dreams to other parts of Europe.
I have thought about every single one of you over the past few days. I feel your fear, I hear your concerns and I see your desperation for what you feel is a poor decision to be rectified.
I like to think I’m one of those irritating people who can make the best out of a bad situation (I will stipulate here that I do not believe the situation we have found ourselves in is bad), an eternal optimist who will always look for opportunity.
When I find myself in need of support and reassurance, I can always rely on family and friends.
I don’t have the solution, but I’m not afraid of change, far from it. It is a challenge that I welcome.
What I am offering here is a small gesture, a change in my habits, being accountable for my vote and taking responsibility for our futures. Changes that I know I can make. We all have a huge opportunity to shape our future for the better. So here’s my promise.
To the small business owner, I will support your trade by buying your goods.
To the friend who fears the loss of their job, I will support you and already have an idea to ensure you and your colleagues have a future in the career you studied so hard for.
To our fellow Europeans living in the UK and our fellow citizens living across Europe, I will support you and stand with you for your right to live and work where you reside, just as you have been. To the future generation, you have my word that I will fight for your education, your career prospects, your right to a home and your right to a democratic country.
To the butcher, the baker the candlestick maker; also to the farmers, the fisherman, the old, and the ill, I will do everything in my power to support you, whatever that may look like.
I realise there’s much more here than simply offering a gesture of good will, please don’t think I’m trying to play down the enormity of this historic decision, but here’s what’s in my control.
Here are the immediate changes I can make. Hard work and perseverance will be needed, nothing is handed to us on a plate nor should we expect it to be. Where’s the fun in that anyway? Where’s the sense of achievement?
Wouldn’t you like to be able to look back in a month, a year, two years and say “we did it, bloody hell we actually did it!”?
I think the human race is fascinating. We are a resilient, versatile and stubborn race. We have great expectations and incredible capabilities, we have the ability to progress and grow in ways that even I can’t comprehend.
We have a great capacity for change. We still have that deeply ingrained survival instinct and we will all do exactly that, we will survive. We need each other now more than ever before. We are our own powerhouse if you just allow it.
There’s nothing to hold us back other than our own fears.
I do believe that we are stronger together, united, with our differences and without regret.
If you’ve read to the end it must be a slow day for you! Thank you for letting me express my feelings and thoughts.
I hope we can all unite over a nice cup of tea in time, once the hurt and the wounds have started to heal. So I leave you with this:
I’m just a girl, standing in front of a nation, asking them to join her #strongertogether
by DannyUK
[wp_ad_camp_1]
I am very very proud of that girl
Twitter: emilyunderworld
on June 28, 2016 at 12:26 am
This was an interesting perspective to read. Personally I’m astounded that the leave campaign won, and I hope that it doesn’t make the UK fall apart! It’s awful to see a rise in xenophobia and intolerance, and I’m worried for my friends who are studying subjects like EU Law, International Relations and languages (with the intention of working in Europe) at university. I also have many European friends who live in London and are terrified at the thought of leaving!
Emily Underworld recently posted…10+ Amazing Places for Vegan Food in London
Twitter: rswstbry
on June 28, 2016 at 12:37 pm
Such a good post! I know a lot of people are worrying and for some it’s a much bigger deal than for others but the decision has been made and we need to make the best out of the situation. It will take a while before big changes happen anyway x
Twitter: CulinaryTravels
on June 28, 2016 at 2:47 pm
Interesting post. I am very passionately a believer in our need to have remained. I can only see leaving as a huge negative in so many ways.
Twitter: icklepicklex
on June 28, 2016 at 9:18 pm
What will be will be, but I am a little fearful of what changes will be made, and their impact on my family. Kaz x
Twitter: faded_spring
on June 28, 2016 at 9:29 pm
Well said, the decision has been made now and there shouldn’t be fights breaking out because some did not get the result they were looking for.
Twitter: daysinbed
on June 28, 2016 at 9:46 pm
I think either way there will be issues and no matter what the outcome it will be interesting to see what happens in the future.
Angela Milnes recently posted…A Night At Premier Inn BlackFriars London
I have considered this and my response to it all day, I have to say that while i really do appreciate the sentiment all I can see here is an emotive piece of claptrap that offers no real practical solution to what you yourself describe as a “bad situation”
You say that “Here are the immediate changes I can make” yet you fail to state any and the rest of the letter is similarly littered with seemingly hollow promises and reassurances. Yet there seems little that you as a leave voter can do in the real world other than tell us as to accept your decision and be quiet. (This is a personal opinion on which I am perfectly willing to be proved wrong)
Today I have written to my local MP, begun a daft letter that I hope will go to a member of the House of lords (no idea which one yet), as soon as I can find the £25 membership fee I will be joining a political reform group, signed every petition I can lay eyes on, no matter how futile they may be and I am giving serious thought to making a diametric shift in my politics and joining the Liberal Democrats.
I watched the Northern Ireland peace process thinking “great now no one will try to blow my mum up along with Canary wharf”, that peace process was directly linked to the UK and Ireland’s membership of the EU. An example of how our membership of the EU has benefited this country and saved lives and still after five days I can not think of any way in which the EU has had a negative or detrimental effect upon my life.
In the same vein up until Thursday I really did think that I, and now that I am a father, my daughter and her generation would live our lives without ever having to worry about unrest or even war on the European continent. Yet now I find that deep down that is my greatest fear because no matter what you say the far right saw Thursday as a victory and no matter how ridiculous they seem just now, the rise of the far right in the face of social, economic and political turmoil… well we all know how that turns out don’t we!
I need to see our political clowns, I mean leaders, pulling together not imploding on the world stage in the face of adversity. I need to see real world efforts and their positive effects in order to be reassured not flowery emotive words. I need to see the older generation wake up to the fact that WW2 is soon to pass from living memory and that it is no longer 1954. I need to see Nigel Farage arrested for inciting hate crime. I need to see our politicians held accountable for the lies they tell to the public they represent.
Start taking action on those issues and the wounds may start to heal.
Yes I will accept your olive branch but only on a personal level not a political one and I will, in every way possible, pull together with those that share the same world view to continue to take real word action against the result of last Thursday’s referendum until the decision to leave the EU is either prevented from happening or is reversed.
Twitter: Life_BreakDown
on June 29, 2016 at 12:03 am
I don’t know what to think about it all at the moment – just looking at my facebook feed sends me into despair, I’m hoping in the end things will work out for the best, but the journey is going to be bumpy that is for sure. x
I am afraid I agree with Peter Allan above. You give no insight or justification to your reason for voting leave and your open letter, although eloquent and a nice read it’s naive about the impact the leave vote will have. You say you’ll support those living here from the EU- but your vote is totally counter to that. You say you’ll buy local as support – hopefully that gesture of goodwill is enough eh? Your optimism comes across as naivety sadly.
I’m glad you wrote this because I didn’t really know much about this. I guess things happen for a reason and we’ll have to hope for the best.
Twitter: tobyandroo
on June 29, 2016 at 9:35 pm
Brilliant. Just brilliant! I couldn’t agree more, now is the time to move forward, not bicker! H x
Harriet from Toby & Roo recently posted…Drayton Manor & Thomas Land :: Our experience.
That was lovely to read, nice to hear from someone’s perspective on the matter.
Twitter: GillyMaddison
on July 5, 2016 at 8:09 am
Well done – not easy speaking out either way because some of the extremists on both sides have been unnecessarily nasty to those who voted against their particular choice.
It was a democratic process, the results of which some people are finding hard to accept. Many people have accused out voters of being ‘racist’ and yet quite a few people that I know of who voted out did so because they are in favour of a more Global approach to trading and immigration.
Why be limited to Europe and the heavy restrictions that membership placed on who we could trade with or invite to bring their skills here? Far from being racist, some of the out voters I have spoken to who are in business have spoken about being unable to easily bring in people from countries outside the EU who have the skills their company need.
Many people seem to be thinking on a wider global level rather than being limited to EU dictates.