The way we were

In London there are invisible limits. Despite being one of the financial centres of the world and considered a home of opportunities, to those who reside in it, it isn’t anything more than a homing ground. People around the world are constantly escaping, immigrating, moving. But to people in London there is no moving it seems the farthest we’d move would be to the edge of the city, but still could not move outside a stones throw from their beloved London. But what is it? Why do we complain about it everyday and yet could not be anywhere else? Why is it so hard to escape? And how did we get here? The British we’re once the world’s explorers, discovering handfuls of countries, building an empire and sharing our way of life with the world. We gave the world parliamentary systems, law and order, trade and many more ideologies. So why is it that the discoverers of the modern world find it so hard to even discover ourselves? It seems that Britain has lost its beliefs, its culture. Has becoming such a diverse country meant that we are unrecognisable? I look around today and find myself wondering should I stay or should I go now?

This will not be a politically correct post about immigration, more a metaphorical approach to the question ‘who am I’? Britain has a history like no other, a monarchy that stretches many millennia and has been ruled by most of Europe, but we all have histories, we all have the moments we’d rather forget, the times that we wish we could change and that other place we wish we would have been when we were at the wrong place at the wrong time. History is something we can’t outrun; it will always follow us but not always hinder us. We can change the perception of our history if we can change for the better for tomorrow. There are moments in British history like the years of slavery that bring shame to those who implemented it and stood by while it happened. But Britain has the pride of saying that it was wrong and today Britain is known as one of the first abolishers of slavery, although that doesn’t make it right how people were treated and those that died, it does show that Britain acknowledged what was wrong with the world and made it right. And today we see that decision all around us, whether Black, White, Asian or ‘other’ we walk among the same streets in our multicultural society. So my previous statement is wrong and like Britain I acknowledge it. Britain is not losing its identity, but gaining a new one as time moves on. Today you may be something that you wasn’t yesterday and may or may not be tomorrow. Our identity isn’t what we were yesterday but who we are today, and what we want to be tomorrow.

So is this happening around the world? Are there just the select few that make it out of their hometown and follow their dreams? Or are everyone’s dreams answered eventually? Is that possible? Is life such a great mechanism that we all get what we want in the end, in the west end the musicals tell us that we should chase our dreams and have a happy ending, but the stories of the east end are that of broken dreams and no prosperity. So is it a tale of two ends, or in life are the endings always the same?

Inside us all we have our own political ideas, our own opinions and our own beliefs, in our world and in our life’s we generally stand together despite our differences and although we don’t always like who we’re near we understand that we have to co-exist and that a little happiness along the way can make the road a lot smoother. There are some who turn this into an all out war, there are those wars that are cold, and there are those that are brutal and bloody. But although we fight we must all come together and believe that we are here for a reason and we might not know what it is yet but one day when we fulfil it we will know our work is done.

So escaping London, might not be all it’s cracked up to be, after all if we feel that attached to it then there must be something there. We can’t choose where were from, we can’t choose who we are, because who we are is not a physical thing, it cannot be touched, it can only be known. And although it cannot be touched, one person, in the deepest part of their heart, can feel it. And we must be thankful for our history because our history has got us here and as long as we learn the lessons of yesterday we can progress to the dreams of tomorrow. In life there are those special things that when around us make everything okay, in London these are the tube stations, the markets, the newspaper stands, the view from the bridge. These are the things that make us comfortable and these are the things that make us smile. Because life is like the city you’re from, and for the time being, despite its flaws, my life is fabulous.