Language Barriers

OK, I know this blog isn't always serious. But I feel like I need to address an issue that seriously annoys me. It's the one we're I hear people say "If people live in America then they should speak American". First of all, do I really have to point out that there is no such thing as the American Language. If you type "American Language" into a search engine, the only thing your going to find is "American English." "Why" you might ask? Well, It 's because the common language in The United States is ENGLISH. That's write people. Let me spell it for you E-N-G-L-I-S-H. English. To say someone speaks American would make no sense. Would you like them to speak North American, or South American. In either event, you're going to have a problem. America is made up of people who originally, be it through ancestry or more recently, spoke languages other than English.

I actually heard a woman complain about her child learning spanish from a TV show that she parked her in front of for hours a day. Her exact words "I don't want her learning spanish when she can't even speak english yet." It's been shown that children who grow up bilingual actually do better in school. So why, I would ask, would there be a problem with a child learning more than one language during the time when, and it has been proven, it's easiest for them to learn. Wouldn't it make more sense to teach them at that age when they don't even know that they're learning because everything is new to them? I mean goodness, we live in a global society now, and while many countries do speak english now, why not give our children everything we possibly can to help them get ahead in the world?

Don't even get me started on the people that say things like "foreigners come to our country then they should speak english". Let's turn this around. Does that mean that when we visit another country, we should speak the language there? If we go to France, should we all speak french. IF Spain, spanish..Kenya, swahili or Brazil, portuguese? Those same people will look at you with a dumb look and go "No, they should speak english" Well, my question to these people is always the same. "Why? Why should they speak english?" I never can get a good answer. They don't know and they don't think about what they're saying. Why should a French person speak english in a country of people that speak french? and so on. Its ridiculous to think that America is so great that everyone should speak our language just to make our lives easier. Contrary to popular belief, the world doesn't revolve around Americans and our needs. I believe that the United Sates is a wonderful country and I'm glad that I was born here, but I think that many of our citizens are just full of themselves. We rely so heavily on the "look after #1" philosophy that we tend to forget that there are other things out there in life and in the world. Shouldn't we expect the same amount of thought and energy from ourselves that we expect to come from other people and other countries in the world? How can we tell someone else how to live and learn if we don't follow the same advice we dish out. Have we become a society of "Do as I say, not as I do" people? I don't know about you, bu t I aspire and hope that now and someday I can be better than that person who can't see his can't see what's right in front of them and rather than learn something would force others to give up part of who they are so that they can be the same type of close-minded people we're all forced to deal with everyday.

I say, let your children learn as much as they can, be it math, science, other languages, cooking, sports or anything else that will make them better and more intelligent people. If your child is learning a language you don't know, maybe you should take some time out and learn it with them and make not only them, but yourself smarter in the process. And if you find yourself confronted with someone who doesn't speak english, don't condemn them for it. Ask yourself What you would do in the same situation if you are in some country and you don't speak the language. Ask yourself how you would want someone to treat you if the situation were reversed.

And ,on a side note, we are the only country in continents of North and South America that believes we are the only people who can be termed American. Yes we took the term and made it our own, but if you tell someone from South America you are American, you just might get the response of "yeah, me to. Are you North American or South American? Which country are you from?"

Heelys. How old is to old...

OK, this topic was suggested to me by my cousin, who is 13yrs old and just happens to own a pair of heelys. For those of you no in the know, heelys are a brand of sneaker made by a company called, of course Heelys, Inc. They have a wheel stuck into the bottom near the heal of the shoe. When wearing these shoes you can walk and run just like you normally would, but if you shift your weight onto your heels you can roll instead. Now I personally think they're pretty cool. If I was a kid I'd be all over them.

The question of the day, however, is how old is too old to be rockin' the heelys. In the movie "Employee of the Month" Dane Cook's character "Zack" was perpetually wearing and using his heelys. Obviously, it goes without saying that he was too old. But at what age should you stop wearing them. At what age does owning and using a pair just make you look downright idiotic? Well, after a serious discussion with the cousin I mentioned above, we decided that we would give a slightly vague answer to this question. The answer we came up with involves, not age, but education. We decided that if you are in Middle School or younger (that's birth to grade 8) then you're allowed to have the heelys. Anything beyond that, and you really just need to go find something else to occupy your time.

So let me repeat this for you one more time. IF YOU ARE OLD ENOUGH TO BE IN OR HAVE FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE...ETC. GET RID OF THE HEELYS. YOU'RE TOO OLD. It's like seeing someones 40yr old mother trying to wear the same clothes as her 18yr old daughter. Or that old man who never figured out he was old and is still up in the club trying to hook up with the ladies who are a 3rd of his age. Let'em go. JUST SAY NO.

nothingness

Ok, I haven't written anything in almost a week. I have no one to blame but myself, the heat and humidity (which is awful right now) and the fact that I'm damned tired from driving back and forth to Indianapolis too many times. I'm not sur that I could be any mroe tired. Last night I went to sleep at 7:30 pm and woke up about 5:30 this morning. Not once did I even roll over. My right arm was asleep up to the elbow. That's just ridiculous tired.