Friday 31 January 2020

Why I love my country (Britain)


With the uncertainly of Brexit, I thought I’ll spread some positivity by listing reasons why I love my country:

·         UK have many sceneries including woodlands, country fields, mountains (including from Windermere where I’ve meet up with my internet friends) and even some cities that are beautiful to look at including when I go out for Pokemon Go, something that Brexit won’t take away. If anything, the start of Brexit has helped me to appreciate the scenery and our country’s beauty more.

·         There are places that I enjoy going including during my childhood days including Chester Zoo, Blue Planet Aquarium, Chester for Pokemon Go (including for Community Days), Liverpool for Nintendo Liverpool, Knowsley Safari Park, Green Arces Farm and Liverpool Echo Arena (now known as M&S Arena) where I get to see Mcfly, McBusted and Busted for their tour.

·         It’s where all of my friends and family live who has done a lot for more over the years. If I were to live elsewhere, I would have never got to know them.

·         UK also has celebrities including the aforementioned Mcfly/McBusted/Busted guys, Jack P Stephard, and Youtubers including Dan Howell, Phil Lester, Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee. I’m proud to share the same country as them.

·         Britain have many tasty food that are hard to resist including Fish and Chips, Sausage Rolls, Yorkshire Pudding and Sunday Roast as well as a lot of chocolate including Cadbury Diary Milk, Maltesers, Aero, Kit Kat and Mini Eggs. Curry is also said to be the nation’s number one food which is how Game Freak was inspired to add a curry making feature for Pokemon Sword and Shield.

·         UK is one of the few countries that legalize same-sex marriage and homosexuality. Whilst our country is not always perfect for LGBTQ rights, I am thankful that we generally have it better than some other countries and we can only keep on fighting for equality and not giving into hate. Various other LGBTQ factors that we’re blessed with includes treatment for AIDs, various pride events throughout the country and having 40 LGBTQ+ MPs in parliaments which is the highest amount of parliaments in the world as of 2016.

·        UK has many wonderful wildlife including Hedgehogs, Barn Owls, Squirrels, Red Deers, Otters and Robins. There has been news that they are in decline however but here’s how you can help them. Also, Chester became the first sustainable Palm Oil City thanks to Chester Zoo.

·        UK is also one of the few countries that have some gun control which are at least restricted to specialized people including specialized police.

·        We happened to be one of the few countries who are protesting the government to tackle environmental issues with environmental activists Extinction Rebellion. Environmental issues maybe hard at times but it’s good that we have passionate people who are raising awareness.

·        We now have a Pokemon region based on our country; The Galar Region in Pokemon Sword and Shield (the Pokemon and some of its locations are pretty good too!). At this time of writing, there’s going to be DLC expansion packs with more new Pokemon, access to some previously unobtainable older Gen Pokemon and many more content, giving us more things to look forward to for this generation of Pokemon.

So our country may not be perfect and even with the concerns of Brexit (even for me as it could get in the way of arguably more important issues including health, LGBTQ and the environment, not to mention that I sometimes wonder that the result could have been different if more people were educated or if more people have tried to reach out and build bridges to others as shown in Steven Universe episode ‘Gem Harvest’), it won’t stop my unconditional love for the country I was born in as I hold onto my optimism which is the only thing that'll help me to move forward.

Brexit may make everything for our country uncertain and not awesome but that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless and bleak. Because in my heart, I believe that only we can define our country and create our own future. Whatever happens to our country regarding to Brexit, don’t lose your way and make Britain the way you want it to be. Stick with those who you love and are maybe uncertain about Brexit, helping them to get through it and give them a reason to be positive, show those narrow minded individuals who use Brexit as an excuse to discriminate that you love your country and you have the right to belong here and don’t forget the things that you love about Britain (which I would like to know in the comments). 

Everything is better when we stick together. Side by side, you and I will build it together.

You can thank The Lego Movie 2 for their song ‘Everything is not awesome’ which was my inspiration for this; acknowledging that not everything can be awesome but we can make everything better together, something that we all can be inspired by.

And may this inspiration get stuck inside your heart.