EU Referendum

When I turned on the news Friday morning, I was genuinely shocked and found myself staring at the words "leave wins" with my mouth gaping open.  I knew there was a rumbling under the surface for people who wanted England to try it on their own--again--but, I thought the majority would be to keep things the same and stay in the European Union.

Having had a couple of days to process the future (after initially being really nervous), I think the best thing to do is to keep calm and carry on.

Some people are referring to yesterday as the U.K.'s Independence Day--to which Lee hopes that we will get a new holiday and yet another day off from work every year.  If that is how half the country feels (the vote was 52% to 48%), then I suppose they can be happy that becoming independent from the EU is as simple and peaceful as a vote.  The United States' Independence Day was hard-fought for and feels like it holds much more meaning because of all the people who died to have their own sovereign nation.  From what I observed, the voting process to break away from the EU merely required a five-minute walk to a polling station and an "X" in a box written in pencil on a half-sheet of paper.  So, although England became independent from the EU, I'm not sure it warrants a holiday because of the ease of the process in which it was 'won.'

The statistics of who voted to leave based on age groups was quite surprising to me:

Age
18-24     27%
25-34     38%
35-44     48%
45-54     56%
55-64     57%
65+        60%

The U.K. joined the EU 43 years ago.  So, it is interesting to me that the people who have never lived in England while it was independent voted to remain--it's all they've ever known.  Maybe the older generations can see the bigger picture.  They've seen England before joining the EU and have given it a chance for about four decades.  It's very small-minded to assume that all of these voters are 'racists' as many people have been labelling them.  The older 'leave voters' said in interviews that they want England to be able to make its own laws again and their phrase 'we got our country back' was uttered numerous times on t.v. yesterday.  Maybe they are seeing changes to this country that are upsetting to them and this vote was their only way to reverse the chipping away at their traditions they have observed over the past 43 years.

Only time will tell if England is better off out of the EU, but I am really impressed with the way the public and politicians have behaved since the votes were counted.  David Cameron's resignation speech didn't have an undertone of judgment for the people who voted to leave--although he was undeniably for the other side.  He showed a lot of respect for the voters and his rhetoric was what one should expect of a leader these days.  (Obama, take note.)  Instead of slyly calling his opposition less-than-smart--which is all I hear from the Democratic Party in the U.S.--the Prime Minister spoke with class and accepted the results.  There were no added looks of disappointment or sighs of hopelessness or attempts at jokes to make fun of the winning side.  His speech was exactly what should be expected of a world leader.

I'm not sure if Cameron invited Obama to speak a few months before these votes were cast, or if he came on his own volition, but the ultimatums he issued if England were to vote to leave were incredibly arrogant and it looked like he didn't think the British public was smart enough to weigh the pros and cons of the election for their own country.  I realise that the U.K. not being an EU member will affect countries outside of Europe, but that press conference Cameron and Obama held was way out of line, in my opinion.  If the roles were reversed, then I'm sure Cameron's opinion would not be welcomed during this year's U.S. elections--and I know whomever becomes the President affects countries all over the world.

Voting to remain would have given the U.K. the opportunity to carry on just as we were--and 48% of voters would have been happy to do that.  It would have made us feel more secure for our families and financially.  But, that's not the case and we all have to deal with it.

Over the next two years, we will find out what it is like to leave the EU--seeing as England is the first to ever vote to leave.  There is a huge group of people here who feel like taking the risk to try things on our own is the best idea at this point in time.  And being an immigrant myself, in order to remain here after my first two years, I had to take an English history test that covered everything from the Stone Age to modern-day politics and the general running of the country.  It was hard.  But, it taught me that Britain is Great.  This country has made it through some really awful times and found ways to continuously remain a force in the world.  The people here come from really tough stuff--and so do its immigrants!  I am sure that no matter how dire the news reports make this situation out to be, that England will stay strong and make it through whatever comes its way.

Developmental updates:  Jackson can stand while holding onto a table.  He doesn't pull himself up to do this, but if he's put in that position, he can stand for a few seconds.  When we're looking at books together, he seems to understand when I'm done reading a page because he will laugh or make a 'hmm' sound.  This week, the lift-the-flap books and those with different textures on the pages seemed to 'click' with Jackson because he knows what to do.  We've noticed that Jackson isn't as keen to meet new people as he used to be.  He used to smile almost immediately, but now he has a look that combines concerned eyebrows and an unblinking stare.  This week he tried peanut butter and waffles for the first time and loved them!  I didn't serve them together, but now that I mention it, maybe that will be on next week's menu.  He did, however, eat peanut butter with bananas--maybe we'll have the next Elvis on our hands!  Not only because his love of the banana and peanut butter combo, but also because he has started 'singing' around the house and out on walks.  Jackson has become very busy and activities that once held his attention for long lengths of time are either of no interest to him or he decides that he wants to move on to something else quicker than he used to.  Now when we leave the room, he will lean and peek around corners or up the stairs to find us.  Sometimes we find him peeking through gaps in his stroller.  He's a pretty stealthy baby spy.

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.