Yesterday was the Lord Mayor’s Show but who cares?

When I was a kid in the Girl Guides, I actually walked in that parade alongside the Girl Guides float.

I remember the drums, the flags, the pageantry… but not a clue what any of it meant.

We smiled and waved, but no one ever explained why we were there, or who the Lord Mayor even was.

I assume most kids feel the same disconnect today.

And many migrants watch the spectacle and think ‘this looks impressive, but it means nothing to me’

That’s the quiet problem with tradition 

when it isn’t made accessible, it becomes performance instead of participation; 

power on display, rather than belonging in practice.

And yet, especially now, 

with all the racial tension running through London, 

integration cuts both ways.

We, as migrants, also have a duty to understand and respect these British traditions.

This is the country we’ve chosen to call home.

Respect doesn’t mean erasing who we are; it means choosing to ADD to the story, not stand outside it.

Because belonging isn’t built through parades or poppies alone.

It’s built through sharing understanding of history, of culture, and of each other.

Congratulations Dame Susan Langley DBE.