E PLURIBUS UNUM? THE FADING OF
A VISION
by Lee Steese
| I used to hear my mother
say, "well, s/he and I don't talk the same language",
which at that time meant that they did not agree on
something. Now reportedly, fully twenty percent of the people in the United States really do not speak the language of the country which, sorry to disappoint anyone, is English. They have come to be in this country, not of this country. And I am reliably informed that in other countries, Canada for instance, things are no better. That in Quebec, even though the language of the rest of the country is English. Even though it creates persons who cannot hold jobs because they do not speak English or have bi-lingual skills, must learn French. I know of my own memory that there have been articles in newspapers about how the "French Only" rules in that Province, the shopkeepers and others who depend upon tourist trade have had to break the law and place signs in their shops in (heaven forfend) English. That or cut off a great percentage of their sales. And that children in the Province cannot attend an "English" school unless their parents did so before them. In the same article was mentioned the high unemployment rate among those who only spoke French because of their inabilities in English. I cannot see that this is anything other than political power and self indulgence gone awry to the point of utter stupidity. (Oh. Sorry. I forgot. I am supposed to understand these actions and the economically disadvantaged position in which this practice places these people because it is the fault of the rest of us because we do not speak French). I humbly beg your pardon!! On our own soil, I believe the problem is that since we do not require people who wish to live here to speak the language (it would be an insult to their cultural heritage) we also doom them (of course it cannot be said that by their prejudices they condemn themselves) to a barrier to their own "pursuit of happiness". In addition, many times in fact, we do not really require them to obey our laws, but rather are required to "understand" that they come from a different culture and therefore we must "understand" that their actions might not be in line with our laws but we must allow for the "minor deviations" between the two cultures. And they need not. In school I was taught that this country had a definite culture and that it was the duty of those who came here to become amalgamated in that culture. That it was their duty to learn English (which is the language of commerce and official communication in this country). Such however is not the case in practice. Where I work, I get calls from persons who speak other languages who have not learned English (and probably never will) who become very upset that everyone at my office does not speak their language as a matter of course. Would you name me one other country which bends over so far backwards to accommodate every culture in the world save their own even to the point of printing election ballots in almost 100 languages? The way I see this going is that we are going to end up like some African, Balkan, or Middle Eastern country which is not one country, but a collection of little enclaves. Each enclave having its own language and customs, totally incapable of dealing with the little enclave next to them. And then E Pluribus Unum becomes laughable, the basis for a Mark Russell television program. I can offer no solutions. I have given up trying because every time I do I am accused of being racially or ethnically prejudiced. I merely offer the above out of a deep frustration with the state of affairs currently existing (and increasing) in a country which I have defended in combat (and I paid dearly for that as well having been in the wrong war). Mayhap, in these different times, I am the one who is out of step. May I be excused? Opinion
Piece # 9 |