A Whole New World

This is it. Today is the day that Scots around the world have been looking forward to, or dreading, for months. Today is the day of the Scottish Referendum, a vote to determine whether Scotland should effectively divorce itself from the rest of the United Kingdom and become an independent country of its own. Today we might see the world change.

It's a heartbreaking thought. I only lived in Scotland for a few short years and, as a citizen of a small, immensely proud nation myself, I understand the need for a sense of independence. I understand why Scots effectively want to belong to themselves, why they want to own their achievements and not have to share them with the rest of the UK. But that is not the way to help the world move forwards. After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!! And I can't help feeling like a Yes! vote will basically eradicate over two hundred years of peaceful coexistance, and return England and Scotland to their previous tumultuous relationship.

However, I'm not here to promote a Yes or No vote. I can't wait to see what happens, what the result of this crazy referendum will be tomorrow morning. I'm an outsider on the inside - the result shouldn't affect my personal life in any way. I'm glad I don't have a vote, but I'm equally sad that I have so many Scottish friends living outside their home country who also don't have a say in something that will shape their whole future. I'm incredible disappointed that the referendum has come to pass this way. I'm also shocked that they will accept a simple majority as the result to the referendum. When the vote is on something this important, shouldn't they set the majority level at around 75% to accept a positive vote? Otherwise how can you say that this is the will of the country - it could simply be the will of 51% of the country. Does this make sense to any of you reading this?

I feel like I'm learning something new about the political system in the UK everyday. I don't just feel it - I know it - after all I do now work for the government and there is always something new to see and learn. And I'm beginning to understand further the massive pressure the government constantly feels to please the populace, whilst trying to do what's best for them. However, I still don't understand how the government can rush a referendum this colossal, this important, through in just one short year. It's not enough time. If there's a Yes vote, Scotland will become independent, self-governing, but it doesn't know how it will achieve that yet. The questions simply have no answers at the moment, and a Yes vote may dig a hole that Scotland may not be able to find its way out of.

Scary isn't it. I'm certainly scared. I was too young to really experience previous world changes: I remember one day my mother told me I had to start calling Czechoslovakia the Czech Republic, but that's about the only real understanding I had of what was going on in that region of Europe. I don't know what happened to Yugoslavia. My country got its independence in 1964, but I wasn't born to see it. One day I'll sit down with those who remember, and ask about Malta when it was under British rule. I just can't imagine it. It's an odd thought.

And maybe, just maybe, in twenty years time, I'll tell my godsons about how I once lived in Scotland, and it was part of the UK. They'll blink at me, and be unable to imagine it. Then again, maybe they won't have to...