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Re: Clearances
At 20:07 03/10/00 -0700, you wrote:
Dear Jean,
Thank you for your kindness. I have a very close friend who is suffering
from the intergenerational trauma
associated with emmigrating from Scotland. It was passed down to him
through his family.He was an alchoholic and one of the best pipers I have
ever met. He was a professional with a graduate degree. I happen to teach
at one of the premier private schools in the US. We have teamed up to
start a pipe band at the school, which is situated in Caledonia County ,
Vermont. His life is evolving now to his being a professional piper and a
fine highland piping teacher. In this way he has changed gears radically
and is taking a bath in Scottish music and the piping tradition. It is
healing him. We will be over to Skye with our bunch of young pipers
within the next three years. Life can indeed be grand.
Yours
Dale Hinchey
I'm afraid people's preoccupation with their own health
(physical and 'intergenerational trauma')
makes my sick.
Alas, the truth is a World which few people
have the courage to explore and, in consequence,
the weak are looking for reasons to excuse (rather than to explain) their
own shortcomings and
fall into the trap of the psychological twaddle we have been
subjected to for the past few days.
If we look at the achievement of Scots around the World, it is
perfectly obvious that the majority
did not try to escape their responsibilities by finding some
specious excuse about happenings
in the dim distant past about which they could have little
knowledge or understanding. As for being
beaten by fathers, I was beaten (deservedly) on a daily basis by
my father or by my domine (school-
master) who both 'loved' me but who wished me to reach my true
potential.
Let's show our worth by facing up to life rather than scurrying
like frightened rabbits into the first bolt-hole.
Please read a book called "How Scotland Changed the
World" and you will get a completely different
perspective of how Scots succeeded because of adversity.
I have always worked on the basis of "the greater the
difficulty, the greater the opportunity".
Since beginning this response, I have also negotiated another
contract for my business (against stiff
opposition in a fiercely competitive market) - not by lowering my prices
or my standards but by
emphasising them).
Niven Sinclair
At 08:08 AM 10/4/00 +1000, you wrote:
Dear Dale,
I don't believe my own bit was "cleared" but all of my great
aunts and uncles certainly left Caithness. No I am wrong, the
youngest stayed on the croft of Lappan until his death. However
there has been a wide scatter of cousins around the world because there
was a large family and not enough to support them and their
descendants.Perhaps this was an aftermath of the Clearances, but until
Margaret completes our particular area of research, we will not know for
sure. Please keep writing - I for one find your input most
interesting.
Jean
>
>Dear List,
>
>This post hit a tender spot.
>
>
>The fact is that the apology would be relatively meaningless. Save
for a
>relatively few individuals, the gruesome details of the Highland
Clearances
>are
>not known. Even today the main curriculums of schools only pay
the
>Clearances Lip service. They do not tell the bald truth. The fact
that the
>Agents of Sutherland
>trampled women to death in the street, some of whom were pregnant,
burned
>old folks in their homes, and generally did ethnic cleansing before
the
>term was invented is not a part of status quo British History in the
middle
>school or high school levels of education , as it should be. If it
was it
>might actually spawn Scottish nationalism.Therefore it would seem
that
>government funded education is functionally but not morally justified
in
>padding the truth of it.
>
>For those interested in how the British developed their Imperial
techniques
>and how they were applied around the world, the laboratory for that
was
>indeed Scotland.[One of the few countries to understand this fact
later was
>Thailand, which never took the British East Indias Company bait to go
to
>war.]The Scots and many other indiginous peoples had their societies,
and
>their ancient traditions, and their very languages compromised by it.
It
>was an international right of cultural passage which invoked the
industrial
>revolution around the world and
>introduced the age of materialism in which we now find
ourselves.
>
>Of course its not all bad news, but any apology by the Scottish
Parliament
>for failing to protect its indiginous peoples can only be predicated
upon
>an official history which bares it all in sordid detail. My
immediate
>Scottish ancestors in Canada were ashamed of being SCottish. It is
only
>recently that the later generations have reintroduced themselves to
pride
>in their culture, in the process having to overcome the associated
plagues
>of depression and alchoholism transmitted intergenerationally, and
fed by
>poverty in the Americas.
>
>Apology, by all means, but an informed apology.
>
>
>Dale Hinchey
>
>
>At 11:59 PM 10/28/00 +0100, you wrote:
>> From the Times, 28
September....
Scotland may say
>>sorry to unwilling
emigres BY FRASER NELSON
>>CANADIANS, Australians and
New Zealanders could soon be
offered
>>something they never expected -
an apology for the
Highland
>>Clearances in the 18th and 19th centuries.
A cross-party group of
>>MSPs called yesterday for the Scottish Parliament
to "regret" the
>>clearances and "extend its hand in welcome to the
descendants of
the
>>cleared people who reside outwith our
shores". They also
detailed a
>>second agenda: to set up a new Clearances
Centre in the Highlands
>>where descendants could come to search for
information about their
>>deported ancestors.
Fergus Ewing, SNP Member for Inverness, told
>>Parliament yesterday
that Scotland should follow
what was now an
>>internationally
established
example. "The genocide
and
ethnic
>>cleansing which has taken place against
in America and Australia
has
>>been acknowledged long ago," he said. "The
time has now come to
>>acknowledge the suffering of the
Highlander." Jamie Stone,
a
Liberal
>>MSP who proposed the motion, told
Parliament that much
economic
good
>>could come from such an apology. The Highlands,
he said, could
serve
>>as a starting block for tourists in search of
their cleared
>>relatives. "We all
know our American friends are very, very keen to
>>find their roots,"
he said. "If they discover their ancestors come
>>from Ayrshire, let them
go back down the road. If they go to John
>>o'Groat's, let them
boost the economy of Caithness
and Sutherland."
>> The idea of an apology was,
however, treated with caution by two
>>Gaelic MSPs who said
that the history of the clearances was not
>>clear-cut. John Farquar
Munro, a Liberal MSP for Skye, said: "I am
>>not sure the Scottish
Parliament should apologise for this. In
>>truth, our own clergy
were as guilty as anybody in this. They told
>>their flock that it was
God's will for them to leave
their homes
for
>>the benefit of the great
white sheep."
>Personal Web Page: Dale Hinchey
<http://personalweb.smcvt.edu/dhinchey>
>Where I teach:Saint Johnsbury Academy Web
>Page:<http://www.state.vt.us/schools/stj/>
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