ONE of life’s problems is that our brains absorb what goes on, then we select the bits that suit us. We use the bits we like to justify what we do and reject things we dislike or disagree with.

I have sat with people watching the same news bulletin and then discussed what was screened, to find myself totally bemused by the things others have absorbed and the interpretation they put on what we have both watched, in real time, together in the same room on the same telly.

One thing that came over to me from Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech is that she is firmly behind Scotland becoming an independent country and one of the reasons for her stepping back would be to give the SNP space to debate and decide what the best way forward for independence is.

She wanted to remove the bias that party members might feel towards the idea of a “de facto referendum” because they have heard their leader proffering that as an option to break the current strangle hold of the Westminster government.

She has opened up the debate and given all of us SNP members the opportunity to bring ideas to the table in a brain-storming event. In effect she has said: “Come on, we have to get independence and I am stepping aside so you can see the wood from the trees.”

So why has the party’s Special Conference now been postponed? The greatest leader in Scottish politics thought this through and has said loud and clear: “Come on, it is time to enter the battle for real, here is your opportunity of a lifetime.”

And what is the reaction from some? “Oh my goodness, what do we do now, we are headless chickens with no leader, panic, panic – we need time to sort ourselves out.”

No you do not! The armies of the Unionist cause are upon us with their insidious cries of: “You are nothing but Northern Britons, how dare you think you can leave the greatest empire the world has ever seen?”

Think about it. There have been calls to use a Holyrood election rather than the Westminster election, as a vote on independence. It makes a lot of sense. Young folk and Scots by choice can vote and there is something more important than that ... to expedite that in short order, let us say by mid-October – how about the 19th? – would have required the resignation of the leader. The independence-supporting parties have now an opportunity to cause an election at Holyrood and to stand on a one-policy manifesto: Scottish independence.

The National: Replica of the Declaration of Arbroath. Photo by Maxine Gordon

I suppose they could take the poignant paragraph from the Declaration of Arbroath (above) and use that as the manifesto. There is a chance to stand up and really be counted: “Vote for us and we will legislate to dissolve the ‘voluntary’ Union of 1707.”

There are minds out in the Yes movement whose capacity is greater than the one I keep in my head. However, there is one thing that I can tell you for certain: a deadline makes people think and it causes them to find solutions to problems.

I implore all who seek Scottish Independence to do anything they can to push for that which I and many crave.

Nicola Sturgeon has been our greatest leader. Go back and listen to her resignation speech, understand what a huge sacrifice she has made and grasp the opportunity before it vanishes into the ether.

I implore all those who want independence to come together – the SNP, Alba, Greens, All Under One Banner – please mend the fences. United we stand divided, we fall.

Independence is bigger than any one of us and we all have to sell the improvement in the lives of all Scottish citizens that will occur once we are independent.

Cher Bonfis

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