The British people are at odds with themselves. They did something that they regret…
…well, of course they did. Don’t we all…(well no, actually some of us don’t have regrets, and there is a name for them: Sociopaths).
You see, regret is our higher self speaking to us. It is the conscience making us aware that we have made a mess of things, that we have gotten something wrong. So those of us that aren’t sociopaths or…something worse, are confused and hesitant when we hear our conscience whispering “you fucked up…” in our ear.
Oh yes, hesitation and confusion follow regret like a hungry dog follows a meat truck.
But why? Why would we be confused or hesitant if our higher self speaks to us, if our better angels are trying to guide us toward the light? Because it isn’t the sense of regret that drives us mad so much as our not wanting to admit that we got something wrong. We hate the feeling of weakness that resistance to what we know is the truth creates in our sense of self.
Ego. Yes Ego my friends, with a capital E and that rhymes with P and that stands for Power! Yeah, right.
Ego is the Id flipping off the conscience as we shuffle off across the yard only to step on a rake.
But hey, a rake handle in the face, that’s not a problem for you. After all you guys will be able to fund the NHS with the 350 million pounds that you would have sent to the EU. Right? I mean, you couldn’t put that on the side of a bus if it wasn’t true, could you?
The Brits are masters of this particular fool’s game. They see consistency and fortitude and steadfastness as symbols of their “being”, their raison d’être. But sometimes a stiff upper lip just makes you look like you’ve had a stroke, and the Sun actually did set on the Empire (unless you really want to consider Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Virgin Islands as an Empire…oh, and the Falklands. Let’s not forget the fucking Falklands…).
Look, I know that you want it to all go back to how it used to be but it never does. We cannot go back to anything. The past is just lessons learned or mistakes made. That, and dust. To try and go back is to only wind up with our head up our own ass and then wondering why it got so dark.
You cannot leave and take back control because
1: control is an illusion.
2: The concept is oxymoronic.
Just like we can’t make America great again because greatness is not a thing that you make, it is a result, it is the culmination of intentions made manifest by deeds. That manifesto of greatness is written in the collective good that you do on behalf of those that have less and are in greater need than you.
We understood that once, and we will again.
Yeats told us that things fall apart. He was right about that. If you don’t believe me, buy a house…and wait…
But after we stare at the remains of what was long enough, we begin to see the shape of what can be. We pick up the various parts and turn them in our hands and we begin to see how they can fit together in a new way. We improvise. We adapt.
It was Winston Churchill, that staunch guardian of the Empire, who in a flash of brilliance and a fit of supreme irony, said “the man that never changes his mind never changes anything…”
The British people are afraid to change their minds. They are afraid of what it will say about them as a people and as a nation. And that will be their undoing. They know in their hearts that leaving the European Union is a mistake but they can’t admit it to themselves or to the world. They are afraid of how the world will see them if they say…”um, you know what…that’s a do over…
I think that is what the British hate most about Americans. We change our minds all the time and we really don’t care what anyone thinks. We are too self-absorbed to really even consider that the world would think less of us. After all, we are the center of the fucking Universe…aren’t we?
Hey, Britain. I know that we are your obnoxious and boorish cousins and it really pisses you off to even consider following our example but, just this once, follow our example; just shrug your shoulders, accept that you just spilled your 3 pound latte all over the front of your brand new suit. Don’t try and pretend that you didn’t because we can all see that you did. We are not going to judge you harshly for admitting it because…and you can trust us on this…we just spilled an entire tray of tall lattes with extra foam down the front of ourselves and very soon we will be going home to change.