Saturday 26 January 2013

What defines us as Scots?

Scotland is a small country in the north of Europe. Yet we are big people despite having just over 5 million inhabitants across our land. But on the weekend of the birthday of our national bard, Robert Burns, one may ask themselves this fundamentally intriguing question: what defines us as Scots?

And after making two contributions on BBC Radio Scotland's Big Debate with the ever canny Brian Taylor (how I love that Scots word), the answer, to me, is clearly not just a single one. The audience was diverse - we had indigenous Scots, Jamaican Scots, Middle Eastern or Arab Scots (such as myself), and Scots who were born or even brought up in another part of the UK such as England. Beyond that you have many other types of Scot who either live here or abroad. This diversity defines us.

The previous contributor early on in the debate (14:07) spoke about our nation being the best little nation on earth. His point was fantastic and illustrated what makes Scotland such a diverse yet united nation. I unapologetically went one step further and, with glee, described our nation as the "greatest nation on earth" (15:10). "No swagger here whatsoever", Brian Taylor declared but I went on to substantiate my point.

In all seriousness I really do believe we are the greatest nation on this planet because of this diversity. Any person can read Burns poetry. Any person can read Scots. Any person can put a saltire around their torso and wave it at Hampden Park or Murrayfield. There is no such thing as a "them and us" attitude up here because its not Scottish and it confronts our values as a people and nation. And whether you went to a faith, grammar, private or state school or whatever your ethnic or religious background, everyone is in the team and everyone counts. We are a canny people and take a broad minded view of life and the world around us and express ourselves so eloquently in many different ways, whether we are happy or sad.

And even abroad, look no further than the United States. Scotland isn't just a nation of 5 million people. There are at least five times more Scots in America, either by birth or ancestry and thankfully more and more people are tracing their ancestry to our country. Mitt Romney, who ran for the United States Presidency in November 2012, is technically one of ours because of his ancestry.

To put it simply, wherever you go, Scottishness is everywhere.

But what about recent times? Later on in the programme I put the question out into the open air asking whether regaining our Scottish Parliament or even the controversial years when Margaret Thatcher was British Prime Minister had increased our awareness and desire to defend and preserve Scottish culture (32:45)? Brian cleverly turned the direction of the question onto me.

There is no doubt that those periods in history let the genie of Scottish national aspiration out of the bottle. They were wake up calls. Now I'm not taking a stance on the Scottish independence debate here but events such as these provoked strong feeling and it isn't even thinkable to suppress those feelings, rather its actually an unhealthy thing to do. I don't think I've seen Scottish culture celebrated as much as now and I wonder if clinging on to our heritage is defining our politics today. The Yes side for Scottish independence may be way behind at the moment but who knows? Remember Liverpool beating AC Milan in Turkey nearly eight years ago?

And even events in our own personal lives can release our own genies from our own bottles. Like in my case, for instance, when I moved south to England on two occasions. Don't get me wrong, being in England was a extraordinary learning experience and in many ways enjoyable as well, particularly with regards to travelling around the nation of St George.

But you don't really realise what you've got until you leave. And once you do then you are desperate to come back and not just stay here, but contribute more than ever to Scottish society. That's certainly the case with me and, as I found out yesterday, many other people.

To finish off, I want to quote the current Irish President, Michael D. Higgins from his Christmas message last month where he said:

"As our economy has contracted in recent times, many people are feeling the consequences, in terms of employment or income. However, our economic condition does not, on its own, define who we are."

The same applies north of the border.

Alba gu brĂ th.

No comments:

Post a Comment