Patriotism is a wonderful thing. The
French are brilliant at it. But amongst our fair isles, patriotism is only
usually seen during times of sporting conflict. We’re not a very proud nation.
Given the slightest opportunity to slag Britain off, we will. The government!
The weather! The NHS! Immigrants!
England’s recent departure from the Rugby
World Cup caused a Facebook furor amongst my collection of British friends. So
much so, I read their comments with genuine shock; thread after thread of long,
aggressive spats between grown men (and women – shame on you!) throwing around
more racist insults about each others homelands than tries scored throughout
the entire competition.
All I could think
about as I read page after page of antagonism, was the Christmas present I
received four years ago. It wasn’t a diamond ring or a Mulberry handbag. It was
a small cardboard box that contained a little pot to spit into. Being of mixed
heritage, I had always wanted to have my DNA tested, just to see exactly where
my ancestors same from. And it was the best present I have ever received.
Several weeks later, the results came through. I discovered my fatherline was
of mainly French and Spanish descent (despite coming from Country Mayo, Ireland) which confirmed our link to the Spanish
Armada. My motherline was much more exotic. Markers from Egypt and Iran, Yemen
and Turkey, plus an extremely rare marker originating from a very elite group
of people living in the Middle East 2000 years ago. It was fascinating. I
discovered that a million people in the UK descend from Romans and that my blue
eyes descend from a single genetic mutation 10,000 years ago. And he lived by
the Black Sea… hence my Persian marker.
We may be fiercely
patriotic about out birthplace but if we all looked at the bigger picture, we
would see that our genetic paths criss-cross the globe, each unique line
making us who we are today. If you live with somebody who refuses to believe
they are anything but English / Welsh / Scottish / Irish through and through,
buy them a DNA kit for Christmas. It’ll be the making of them. We are all
immigrants!
So let’s stop hurling racist insults at one another and stop and
think about where we came from. After all, the purpose of education is to
replace an empty mind with an open one…
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