Although I remember the UK joining the European Economic Community in 1973, I was too young to pay any attention to the details.  For almost my entire life, the country in which I was born has been integrated politically and economically into the continent of Europe.  I have never looked at that integration as anything but positive.  Of course, I was aware that my enthusiasm for the EU wasn’t shared by all Britons, but their criticisms and complaints always seemed trivial and silly.  I could never take the “Little Englanders” very seriously.  Many, including most of the UK’s politicians, felt the same way.  That proved to be a very costly mistake.

More than forty years after its historic decision to join the EEC, Britons recently made another historic decision, this time to leave the EU.  Although that vote was only narrowly in favor of the exit, the choice was made and it’s irrevocable.  I’m convinced it’s one of the most important political decisions of my lifetime and one that will have very damaging consequences for the UK.

My family and I chose to make the United States our home ten years ago.  Throughout that time my sense of being a European and my pride in being a European have grown.  The idea that my children in the future might not be able to work and travel without restrictions in Europe is a horrible one for me.  They’re fortunate that they’re entitled to have Irish passports, so their future in Europe is secure, but others aren’t so lucky.  A young generation of British Europeans has been betrayed by older voters who were lied to by politicians eager to stoke the fires of fear and xenophobia.  All of us – young and old, Europhobes and Europhiles, wherever we live in the world and whatever our nationality – will be affected by that betrayal and those lies.