In the days since 19th September 2014, I’ve read a lot of blogs and articles by Yes supporters who admit to being devastated by the result. And I can understand the pain. For some like me, it had a been a constant battle since the Holyrood landslide in 2011. For others like Oor Tam, the McGarrys, it has been a life long war. And for yet more, it had been only days or weeks since they awoke to the potentials of Independence.

Some people I know are still too broken to get back in the game.

Me? As I sat there that morning, watching the BBC crow about the result, watching the smug face of David Cameron addressing the cameras, I felt only two emotions: Pride, and Elation.

Now before you jump to the conclusion I must be a unionist sleeper, or worse a Tory in disguise, let me explain why.

I work as a sales-rep during the day. And one of the things I learned early on in my career is that if you only look to achieve the sale itself, you’ll be disappointed every time it doesn’t happen. Sometime you need to just do more groundwork, sometimes you just need to work on the customer relationship, sometimes you need to lose so the competitor can expose their own lies. And sometimes, you need to gather information so that next time you win.

And so it was the same with the referendum campaign.

Looking at the scenario as it stood in 2011, it was clear we needed a miracle. 25% or less in the polls, and up against the entire UK media including the BBC, the UK state itself, and the “Scottish” accounting unit of the Labour Party which was ingrained so deeply within swathes of Scottish constituencies.

So with a win looking like a pipe dream, what else could we aim for? I settled for the following six aims:

1 – Win the referendum

2 – Open the eyes of the public in Scotland to the BBC Agenda, and let it expose itself (and the rest of the UK media)

3 – Hand shovels to “Scottish” Labour, and get them to dig their own pit (much more credible than just the SNP digging it for them)

4 – Politicise the nation. Westminster only gets away with everything, and has done for so long, because most of the nation have been asleep politically for a long time.

5 – Grow the membership of the SNP from a few hardly souls into an unstoppable force.

6 – Make Westminster play all of their cards

And so the morning came of the 19th September 2014. I saw the numbers, and against the might of the UK State we had risen to almost half the nation. The hard work of so many had rocked Whitehall to it’s core. And I felt proud of us all.

And we had achieved five out of the six targets I had set.

So I whooped, I grinned, I stunned everyone who phoned me to commiserate and check that I wasn’t about to jump off a bridge by explaining just how it had REALLY turned out. I spent days talking to my friends, especially those who had voted No, and every single one of them regretted it. I persuaded as many as I could to join the SNP, or the Green Party, and to stay focused on the goal.

Oh, and I admit I did have one wee cry. During Alex Salmond’s resignation speech. But then I looked in his eyes, saw the spark was still there, and the tears stopped.

Because Independence will come. Sooner than they think.

Scottish Labour have broken themselves, as have the BBC and the rest of the UK State media. Westminster played so many cards during the last few days of the campaign that we know what to expect next time and can prepare. Scotland is more awake politically than any other nation on earth.

And the SNP are the most powerful force in these islands 🙂