It's harder than you imagine. Cast your mind back over the day and think how many times you said No. We say it a lot - to our children, partners, colleagues, clients, ourselves. "No you can't ..." "No, I don't ..." "No, I haven't..." No, I shouldn't" . Sometimes we need to say no - when something is wrong, or dangerous, or damaging for instance, but a lot of the time it's a knee-jerk response. No is our default. Were we brought up to expect no for an answer? Is it a cultural conditioning?
I thought of this earlier this evening, when my son rushed out after dinner to play football. "No!" I shouted "you haven't done your homework"
"Leave him" said the Crofter."He's been cooped up all Winter"
And so I watched him running and jumping about chasing after the ball in the light evening. He had great fun and happily did his homework later
It's so easy to say No - often it's out of our mouths before we realise and we might have missed the chance of something precious. It's such a narrow word. If I think about it, most of the time I say no, it's because I don't actually think - automatically saying no removes the effort of having to consider the question. When we say yes, then possibilities are opened up. There is an expansion in our thinking. It may mean more effort or responsibility, if we agree - it might be quite hard work, but who knows what wonderful opportunities we might find.
We are being asked a big question this year. A question that only asks us to answer Yes or No. What will it be - a knee-jerk No, or a life-changing Yes?
I am voting Yes. You know that. But I am feeling Yes too - I love all the positivity there is in the atmosphere right now - the excitement is tangible. There is such a sense of openness - as if we are uncurling and reaching out to each other - finding that we are still a nation, but also a community. And more and more we are saying Yes.
We are not quite there yet - we need to keep this momentum going - lets practice - there's lots of ways to say it:
Absolutely, alright, affirmative, amen, aye, agree, by all means, beyond a doubt, bring it on, certainly, definitely, exactly, fine, gladly, indisputably, indubitably, granted, good enough, great, good, gladly, happily, just so, most assuredly, naturally, no doubt about it, of course, OK, positively, precisely, sure, surely, true, undoubtedly, unquestionably, uhuh, very well, willingly, yeah, yep, you bet
A little bit of rethinking and it will soon be second nature to us - then, come September, enough of us will tick that box marked Yes, and Scotland will open.
Perhaps there are two 'Yes' votes - one for independence and one for staying together. It's doing people who are carefully weighing up the reasons for voting for the Union a disservice to imply that they're not thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteHello Linda. I've been on holiday so have only just seen your comment.
ReplyDeleteThe ballot paper will say Yes or No - those are the choices. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on why you have decided to vote No, if you care to share. I just have not heard any positive cases, despite trying to find them. :)
Hi Jacqui, yes, I know what the ballot paper will say. I was just thinking that for some people what is expressed as 'no' on the ballot paper may be 'yes' in their minds ie they are making a positive choice to vote for the Union. I haven't said how I'm going to vote, tho!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading every last word of the white paper and trying to work out the reality of the economics of the case for independence, in that the white paper suggests that everything will be affordable in an independent Scotland. I've read 'Blossom' and am attracted by the Scandinavian comparisons, because my family knows Norway and Sweden well and we see how society works there. However, that's not the same as being sure that everything in an independent Scotland, including huge start-up costs, will be miraculously affordable. Still some more reading and thinking to do!
Hi again Linda. Something vaguely approaching normality has resumed in this household after a difficult week, so I have a few moments to spend online. I see reading your first comment again that I had jumped to the conclusion that you were voting in a particular way - please accept my apologies. I'm glad you have read Blossom - i was really inspired by it, We have also just returned from Switzerland and were impressed with much of what we saw there too. Of course it's right to find out as much as possible before coming to a decision. There is a wealth of information out there, but not a lot of it makes it into the main-stream press and broadcast media There will be shared assets to negotiate after a yes vote - much of the infrastructure will be able to transfer to Scottish control - government buildings, staff etc. - we wont be starting completely from scratch. Have you looked at Business for Scotland's web site? http://www.businessforscotland.co.uk/10-key-economic-facts-that-prove-scotland-will-be-a-wealthy-independent-nation/ One of their points is that last year Scotland provided £800 more in tax per person to the exchequer that the UK average. if this had stayed in Scotland it could have been spent on improving the lives of those of us living here. At the moment, we do benefit from steps the Scottish government has taken to ameliorate some of the worse effects of theWestminster gvt - free prescriptions (which my husband is really appreciating right now) no tuition fees, which we also benefited from, and free personal care, which my Mother benefited from. Hopefully, my daughters and future daughter in law (I have a feeling...) will benefit from the free childcare, and continue in their careers.
ReplyDeleteI also worry about the uncertainty of remaining in the UK. I do not like the direction of politics in England, and am concerned about the promised in-out referendum on Europe.
Glad to have this discussion xx
Thanks for the link Jacqui, I'll have a look. Yes, I know all about free personal care - in fact I just did a post about it here - http://occasionalscotland.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/caring.html. I was interested in a comment by a Norwegian blogger that care for the elderly is good in Norway but not free - I guess when comparing Scotland with Scandinavia it needs a good hard look at what people do actually have to pay for in the way of services in Scandinavia, lest we assume that it's all miraculously free.
ReplyDeleteI've had a look at the link you posted above. I'm still puzzling over the assertions in the White Paper that everything will be affordable in an independent Scotland. Reading through the questions and answers section it begins to seem as if there's no need to get to the end of the question 'Can an independent Scotland afford to...?' before the answer 'Yes' comes in. I'm puzzling over questions such as 'If a state like Norway, with many years of a sovereign wealth fund, charges for care of the elderly at home, how will free care continue to be available in an independent Scotland, given the massive start-up costs that a new state entails, quite apart from the fact that oil revenue will run out?' Yes, much of the infrastructure would transfer if there was a yes vote - depending on what would be agreed in some cases, and there is no guarantee that the rest of the UK would say 'yes, here you go', but it will need much, much more.
ReplyDeleteHi again Linda, I guess there are no guarantees in life, and we don't know what the UK economy will be like in two years time or even what sort of government there will be. There is a strong possiblity that it will be a Con/Ukip coalition, and that is not something I want to countenance. However, according to "UK Oil and Gas" the oil will last for 40 - 50 years without taking into account the oil reserves on the West coast, which will be able to be explored once we no longer have trident nuclear submarines in our waters. Also the administrative functions will continue after 18/9, its not as if we are starting from scratch. A no vote is more of a worry for me, as the UK has a £1.3 trillion public debt which the government won't be able to cut their way out of, however much they punish the poor.
ReplyDeleteScotland, according to the financial times will enter independence in a far better state than the rUK, and will be in the top 35 exporting nations in the world.
Scotland will become 14th richest country in the list of developing nations - the rUK will be 18th.
The oil as valued by the Office for Budget Responsibility who haven't got anything right since their creation by George Osborne in 2010 put it at £1.5 trillion pounds. That's just based on the geographic share as is with the stolen part of the North Sea. The OECD who do make good predictions value it at £4 trillion.
Scotland has been checked out by Standard and Poors the credit ratings agency. They will give Scotland, without any oil, their highest rating.
I guess Norway have chosen to prioritise spending differently, and have focussed on other issues rather than free personal care. I dont think anyone wants to make a carbon copy of particular countries, as there are many great examples we could look at in other countries too. But really, no one can guarrantee anything, but we have a real chance to change things for the better. To make decisions based on our need and situation. No country that has become independent from the Uk has ever wanted to turn back, and all countries do function -even ones that are not in as good a position as we are. With all the resources we have, it's really a disgrace that we are in the state we are in, and independence, for me, gives us the only opportunity to put that right. x
Hi again - I also came across this piece today,http://www.womenforindependence.org/#!Linda%20Morpurgo%2C%20Lochgoilhead/c8f9/893E1DE6-0A29-41AC-937D-FFFAFC3AC8C9
Deletewhich i found very inspiring too. x