No lesson today

What a day, historic and extremely sad.

I am going to be honest I tried to do lesson 16 today but I just couldn't focus or give the correct attention to it. I think it would be a waste so I am to revisit lesson 16 tomorrow.

I am liberal, my absolute biggest belief is to treat others as equals and to see them on the basis of their personality, I detest anyone being judged, let alone on their country of birth, their skin colour, their religious beliefs or the way they dress.

Today the beautiful country I have always adored living in, decided to vote to leave the European Union. While I absolutely don't believe that the EU is perfect or indeed what this country needs, I equally see the benefits of being in and in my mind there are more than being out and I absolutely believe in open borders.

I work with and I live with lots of people who were not born in this country and all I see is hard working, caring and kind people. I am not stupid enough to see that there are some people who come to this country to commit crime but I believe they are a tiny percentage of people who decided to make their home here.

I know many people didn't use their vote as an EU 'out' vote instead they wanted to use their vote to show the government they are angry and rightly so in many cases at the austerity measures. The way some people have been treated during this time has been appalling and there is no excuse but this vote was for the future of our country within the EU.

I have no doubt the vast majority of voters wanting to leave the EU were against and excuse me for the appalling term 'mass immigration'. I understand some wanted to regain political power but speaking to people voting to leave and listening to their views on many radio stations has reinforced my belief.

There is no 'mass immigration' it's a myth. The population in this country increased by half a million last year in a country of over 65 million and considering our aging population, I don't see that as being an issue.

I have also heard 'but we only want skilled people to come here, let's have a point system' and that to me is the saddest of all became that means only highly skilled people can move here. What about those in other countries that couldn't afford to be educated to the level of a doctor for example. We are potentially excluding so many hard working and talented people because they weren't born into an environment where formal education was available or affordable.

I have been sad all day, I admit I have shed tears.

The fear of living next to an 'immigrant' is just that, a fear and in reality it is no different to someone born here.  They could be a neighbour from hell or they could be lovely and water your plants when you go on holiday.

I just want to know how I explain to my seven year old son who is mixed race and who's best friend was born in Hungary what on earth happened today.