The night before last, I was having a conversation with someone who was blaming immigrants for all our woes. There was no point in even arguing with such views so I changed the subject to avoid it becoming nasty. However, its a subject that is very close to my heart as my wife is the 3rd generation of Spanish and Irish immigrants who moved here to make a better life for their families. Her family is now spread across Scotland where they, and their kids and grandkids, are living their lives and contributing to society and are every bit as Scottish as I am. It also makes me the proud father of two 4th generation immigrants who were born in Scotland, grew up in the south east of England, and spent their teenage years back in Scotland. I have to admit that I dont really think about any of this very often because to me theyre simply all family. I dont know how many generations Id have to go back on my own side but I would undoubtedly reach the point where some ancestors crossed a stretch of water to settle here. These closet racists tend to forget all this, along with the considerable annual migration of Scots who leave the country in search of opportunities of their own elsewhere. There is a widely held view that the migration of so many Scots (around 30,000 per year I believe) is a sad thing and demonstrates the lack of opportunity in Scotland. While there is certainly a case to answer here, its for another discussion. My own thoughts are that, despite the negative reasons for it, there is a positive aspect to the centuries of Scottish migration. Ive been lucky enough to have travelled to many countries throughout the world in my time and Ive never been to a single country who a) hadnt heard of Scotland; b) didnt have Scots, or their descendants, living there; and c) didnt think we were great people. It makes me very proud that we can go elsewhere in the world and settle down, contribute and be well thought of just in the same way as people from other countries can come here and do likewise.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 22:06:04 +0000
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