I’m trying hard not to think about it but I’ve had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I cannot ignore, try as I may. In a few hours, the UK will leave the European Union and Brexit will be official. After 3 and a half years of fighting, praying, incredulity, mental and emotional angst and turmoil, the day I had hoped would never come has arrived. It shatters all my beliefs and destroys my hopes and dreams for a united and peace-loving union between member states. I never fully realised until now how much of a toll the whole process has placed upon me. It has elicited so many passionate emotions , all to no avail because what I have fought for will never be and the lives of my offspring and future generations will change irreparably.
I have lived in the UK for 23 years. Growing up in South Africa I was always embarrassed and ashamed of my status during the apartheid years. When we received our passports and became British citizens in 2002, I felt pride and patriotism for the first time in my life. I was so happy to be free to live or work anywhere in the EU and to carry a passport that didn’t need to be hidden. I was so grateful to be adopted by the UK and for this opportunity to belong to a nation that I thought shared its values with its European counterparts. This has all changed. Once again, I feel shame and sadness that I will once again have a passport that I feel separates me from the rest of the world. I feel anger that young people have been robbed of opportunities and adventures that should be open and available to them . I feel sad and worried that a period of isolation and hardship may follow and that their future will be at the behest of those who chose a path and a road ahead that our youth had no way of stopping.
Don’t get me started on the huge expense and waste of money and time that has been expended over Brexit these past years. There is so much poverty and need in the world. Imagine if the same amount had been given to the disenfranchised, the poor, the needy and the like? Its such an incredible waste and for millions of us, we fail to see the benefit or the point.
Of course, time will tell. We cannot predict how things will be in years to come. But for today, I feel no joy, little hope and much despair. Its a very sad day indeed and its one that I will try to forget.
In this instance, I choose to bury my head. Forgive us Europe for we know not what we have done. R.I.P Britain? I think not.
