![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
May. 19th, 2006 02:19 pmGrr. Serious fucking Grr.
My great-great-grandfather came to America, knowing no English. He found a wife, had a son, built a house, and worked until he died without being able to speak English well. He also happened to raise my great grandfather until he was 15, and instilled in him how to be a good man, to love his new country, and to work hard and do well.
My great grandfather helped design a warplane that is to this DAY considered an icon of World War II and American history, and his son went on to be a hard working citizen and respected man in his town, who raised his son to go to College, treat people well, and work hard.
And then his son had me, and while I don't really get along with him as well as I could, he taught me a lot of things, too.
Being a good citizen, or even a good person, is not about the language you speak. It's not about your skin. It's not about your hair or your religion (though that religion can be reflected in it). It's about raising your children to respect others, and to show them that working hard and trying to make things better is important. It's about wanting to leave things better than you found them, and about wanting to do well by the people around you.
That is not something that a "universal" language gives you. It can be communicated as simply as a nod and a smile. And trying to take enforce monolingism or worse, monoculture, won't ever change that.
My great-great-grandfather came to America, knowing no English. He found a wife, had a son, built a house, and worked until he died without being able to speak English well. He also happened to raise my great grandfather until he was 15, and instilled in him how to be a good man, to love his new country, and to work hard and do well.
My great grandfather helped design a warplane that is to this DAY considered an icon of World War II and American history, and his son went on to be a hard working citizen and respected man in his town, who raised his son to go to College, treat people well, and work hard.
And then his son had me, and while I don't really get along with him as well as I could, he taught me a lot of things, too.
Being a good citizen, or even a good person, is not about the language you speak. It's not about your skin. It's not about your hair or your religion (though that religion can be reflected in it). It's about raising your children to respect others, and to show them that working hard and trying to make things better is important. It's about wanting to leave things better than you found them, and about wanting to do well by the people around you.
That is not something that a "universal" language gives you. It can be communicated as simply as a nod and a smile. And trying to take enforce monolingism or worse, monoculture, won't ever change that.
