It is with a heavy heart I write this post in recognition of the events that have unfolded since the early hours of Friday morning.
When I awoke just after 5am to the news that the #Leave campaign had triumphed by just a few percentage over the #Remain campaign, a wave of unprecedented emotion swept over me, difficult to comprehend in my sleepy state.
A sense of foreboding is the only way I can describe it.
Since the early hours of Friday, I have walked around with this feeling, oblivious to the words of friends saying ‘it’ll be okay’, ‘it just all needs to settle down’.
Particularly disturbing was a text message I received in response to my spending Friday at A&E with my son being checked for suspected appendicitis.
The ‘jokey’ comment went like this ‘on a plus note we ain’t in the EU, £350 Billion has now been ploughed into the NHS, all those pesky immigrants won’t be there so you should be seen within 9 hours’! This text was followed by an ‘only joking’.
Never a truer word said than in jest.
Following my initial shock it is with horror and despair that I have followed the events of the last 3 days, including the demise of government but worse of all the unleashing of the monster known as racism. A monster that the ‘good and gracious’ pretend is only attributed to the uneducated minority amongst us.
I now know this to be untrue!
The last 3 days have opened my eyes wide to the reality of my existence, to the depth of my friendships, to the world around me.
Abusive postcards outside primary schools, placards telling migrants to go home, attacks on religious buildings, nasty comments in the street shouting go home, abusive posts on social media.
I popped into my local shop to pick up a couple of items and a customer commented ‘glad we are getting rid of all those immigrants’. ‘I don’t wish to hear that kind of racism’ I said, ‘whatever’ was the mans reply, I turned and walked out distressed and disgusted.
For me personally, I have had to re-evaluate my life and my friendships. I never would have thought such a thing as a referendum would tear friendships and communities apart the way it has and make me feel nervous about who I look at in the street and what I say, in case they are one of the ones who voted leave just to get rid of ‘those pesky immigrants’.
The referendum has made me question everything and everyone around me, yet I am Welsh born and bred with Welsh parents. If I am scared to walk out of the door and look people in the eye, how do the people who have moved here from other countries feel?
My instinct is to wrap my arms around every migrant I meet and tell them how much I want and appreciate them being in my country, however, even this feeling is muted by the fact that I personally know migrants from countries outside Europe who voted to leave, I find this incomprehensible!
Everyone seems to have forgotten the real purpose of the EU. Yes, there is free trade, travel, study, work, many of these things I have been lucky enough to benefit from in my lifetime, but primarily the EU was formed in the pursuit of peace.
We are who we are, there is room for everyone on this earth, love, kindness and acceptance are the reasons we are here, we the people of England and Wales seem to have forgotten this.
mothernaturesworld 