A guest post on Burns Night

On this Burns Night, Fraser McAllister has kindly given me permission to publish his letter which appeared in The Scotsman this past Wednesday. As a child growing up in Salina, Kansas, my local library was a Carnegie Library, a lovely old red brick building surrounded by tall oak trees. I loved going there and finding a quiet corner in which to read.

Burns expressed what’s special about Scotland and its People. It’s why Scotland doesn’t and never has ‘fit’ within this fake construct that calls itself the “United Kingdom”. May we all become political agitators for a better nation and world, starting with ending this failing union.

Just over one hundred years ago, the world’s richest man lived in America. Like Elon Musk, he was a migrant and a ruthless businessman who interfered in world affairs. This other titan was Andrew Carnegie and he, too, had the ear of the President of the United States.

Whereas Musk encourages English racists and German fascists, Carnegie was an international peacemaker. Musks delights in spreading disinformation, fostering ignorance and fermenting unrest. By contrast, Carnegie delighted in becoming the greatest educationist the world has ever seen, building 2500 free public libraries around the globe, including in Musk’s homeland of South Africa.

Carnegie’s early life was deeply influenced by his uncle George Lauder, a political agitator for equality, education and democracy. He imbued his nephew with an admiration for Robert Burns which came to inform Andrew’s world view.

Extraordinarily tens of thousands here and abroad are now celebrating that life, a young poet who died in 1796. Peerless craftsmanship and his love for humanity can’t fully reveal this phenomenon.

Raise a glass then to the Immortal Memory of Rabbie Burns and toast the hard working volunteers who support Burns Suppers and Burns Clubs. Enjoy your haggis, neeps and tatties and sing his song of international brotherhood with its notice of contempt for riches and rank - “The man’s the gowd for a’ that”.

Those egalitarian and humanitarian values which Burns personified make Scotland a distinctive place and positive influence in the world. He’d have liked that.

Near the end, Burns explained himself in a letter to a friend :

“No doubt there is much I’ll have to answer for, yet my philosophy was simple

enough. Whatever mitigates the woes or increases the happiness of others,

this is my criterion of goodness; and whatever injures society at large or any

individual in it, this is my measure of iniquity and, if I could, believe me I

would, wipe all tears from all eyes.”

Fraser McAllister