Foreigner

A friend, a very good friend, posted the following status update on Facebook yesterday:

" WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Press '1' for English. Press '2' to disconnect until you learn to speak English And remember only two defining forces have ever Offered to die for you, JESUS CHRIST And the AMERICAN SOLDIER One died for your soul, The other for your freedom. If you agree......."

One other person on my friends list posted the same thing.  They weren't really a friend, an acquaintance of an acquaintance, and frankly that person is no longer on my friends list.

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I HAD to comment.  I love the friend who put this up there, but I had to say something.  To say that I'm opinionated is probably sugar-coating things.  This is me:

 

I've never been the kind of person who could see something I felt was wrong and keep my mouth shut about it.  So of course, I commented.  The string follows, ending with the comment I wrote this morning.

"That Jesus Christ of whom you speak...did not speak English. And it is unlikely he berated visitors to his country for not speaking Yiddish."

Just sayin.

Yesterday at 2:45pm ·

 

 

And then the following ensued:

 

 

And yes, it should have been "He" and "His", not he and his.

Yesterday at 2:45pm ·

Everyone likes a little ass but no one likes a smart ass!!

Yesterday at 3:00pm

You go Chris!

Yesterday at 3:54pm

LOL Chris

Yesterday at 4:14pm

Unlike.

Yesterday at 4:32pm ·

AMEN

Yesterday at 4:33pm

I am all for it when you go to China they don't learn american to speak to us.......

11 hours ago

"American?" Even in China they know that our language is "English," not "American." This is what we are graduating from our schools these days? No wonder the U.S. is slipping behind the rest of the world in education.

I'm not being a smart ass, here. Jesus doesn't just save white, english speaking souls. Please leave Him out of rants against people from other races. I'm pretty sure He doesn't appreciate His name being used for this.

16 minutes ago ·

 

 

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And now I'm just pissed off.  And the final comment, the one that I will refrain from adding to what is now just an internet pissing match between me and my brain and a bunch of people half as well equipped, is this.

 

American soldiers are out across this globe dying EVERY DAY not only for the best interests of America, but for the freedom of other people - other NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING PEOPLE.  Jesus gave His life  not just for those who speak english (ZOMG, she actually called it "American."  FAIL) but for all people of all races and colors. 

 

I don't believe for one microsecond that either of them, the soldier who gave his or her life, or the Savior of us all, would appreciate their name and memory being utilized in a diatribe most likely started because some ignorant idiot got pissed off when they tried to call Bank of America to find out why the rent check for their double-wide bounced and got routed offshore to speak to a customer service associate in India or in Mexico.

 

That someone would even begin to equate their annoyance and aggravation over this boggles my mind.  Is THIS what our priorities as a country are?  Are people really more concerned about how many people in this country speak English than they are about healthcare or two wars overseas or the fact that hundreds of thousands of people just freaking DIED in Haiti?

 

My dad, in fact both of my parents, lived and taught the value that a person's character was the most important thing to know about them.  This value has been part of my landscape since before I could talk.  I know in my soul that character is more important than education, more important than financial worth, than social standing, job title, hair color, culture or religion.  And when you get right down to it, if you narrow your thinking about a person to whether or not they are living in America and speak English, then you limit your understanding of that person to the extent that you will never understand their CHARACTER because you made their language the most important thing about them.  How can we devalue people to the point where we no longer care WHO they are but what language they speak?  

 

How many third, fourth or fifth generation Americans have a direct relative that came over from another country not speaking English?  My father-in-law's parents, for example were Polish.  When he arrived at Ellis Island, I assure you Jan Peretsky did not speak English. 

 

I believe we are incredibly fortunate to live in a country that has been enriched by so many different cultures and influences.  The freedoms we hold so dear have allowed people to come here and bring with them their language, their religious beliefs, their food, their color and their language.  Italian, German, Dutch, French, Swedish, Polish, Irish, Spanish, African, Turkish, Puerto Rican, Portugese...forgive me if I leave anyone out.  I had an acquaintance in college who was from Lebanon.  In his country, military service was compulsory and they lived in a state of constant war.  He told me about studying English in his foxhole because he so badly wanted to come to America.  We are so privileged to live in the country that so many people around the world hold up as the "place they want to live."  And we constantly seem to forget how so many of our families arrived here. 

 

How sad it would be to live in a place where there was only one language, one color, one culture. 

 

 

I despair for the future.  What this says about us as a country, about the average American mindset is more than disturbing.  It is a nightmare. 

 

 

 

To my friend, if he reads this:  I love you dearly.  I always will.  You probably didn't even think about what you were posting, something in it just touched off something in your tired overworked brain yesterday.  If you weren't my friend I wouldn't be so upset. 

 

To the others who commented:  I believe racism is poisonous, insidious and that it is evil.  When we allow it to slip into our daily words, into our train of thought, even in these small ways, it changes us into people who forget about being human.  Think carefully about what kind of human being you want to be, what you want to teach your children about this world in which we live.  What you say in front of them is what they will learn to believe.  Remember your humanity and help your children learn what it means to share a world with people of other cultures.