Congressional Accountability - Part 12,
By: Robert Jay
MAKE ENGLISH THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE! Why in the world should I care? I've
raised four kids I'm retired and my responsibilities are essentially over.
But I do have that essential flaw of caring for the greater good. And the
greater good in this country is when everyone speaks from a foundation of a
similarity of meaning.
I saw a movie, a long time ago, with the unlikely title, The Ballad of
Gregorio Cortez. It left me with a profound impression, that communication,
or more accurately mis-communication results in some of our largest
troubles. In this movie, based on a true situation, a Mexican, living in
Texas around the turn of the century, was accused, in English of stealing a
horse. He, in Spanish, flatly denied it. To abbreviate this most
interesting movie, after several deaths and two weeks of chasing, he was
captured. It was revealed that there was a mis-interpretation of the word
"horse" which had caused all the trouble. In Spanish it means the male
animal. In English it is both male and female. He stubbornly denied that
he had taken a stallion. He thought he had permission to borrow a "mare."
That didn't help Gregorio. He was hung. If he had known English the trauma
would never have occurred.
Problems exist in every country that is divided by language. Take a look at
our neighbor to the north. Canada has been on the verge of splitting apart
for approximately the last 15 years. That creates an enormous amount of
wasted energy and influence among those that try to govern. It basically
creates conflict and animosities while hindering their country's progress.
If the English had mandated one language 200 years ago there wouldn't be the
chaos that exists there today.
Getting back to our own country, learning English puts the children of
immigrants on a sounder footing for participating in this truly marvelous
and expanding economy. If the goal for future generations is to escape from
the lowest income levels, the necessity for communicating in the
predominant tongue is self-evident.
By eliminating Spanish and other languages on government forms and signs we
send a signal that this nations is truly one unified whole, not subject to
the vacillation of mis-interpretations or the wavering of fixed concepts.
So GO for English!
MAKE ENGLISH THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE!
Sincerely,
Robert Jay, aka gadfly@mail.iswest.com
474 E. Wilbur Rd.#104,
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
Tel.# 805.495-8207
| Return to Baltimore | Comments for Mr. Jay |