El Cielo Esta Nublado. Muy Nublado.*

Saw this article today, which got me thinking about stuff:
Confrontation in Virginia

When I was in sixth grade, around spring of 1966, along with all of my classmates I had to make a decision whether I wanted to study Spanish or French in junior high school. I thought about this as seriously as I could, taking into consideration my future goal of becoming a nurse. I chose to learn Spanish.

Now I lived in North Woodmere at the time, a part of the Five Towns which sit along the border with the New York City borough of Queens, coincidentally the birthplace of the current President of the United States. My reasoning was thus: I expected to work as a nurse, most likely in the City, at least to start. Many of my future patients would likely be speaking Spanish, so to be most effective as a nurse it would make sense for me to be able to speak Spanish.

I was 13 years old. I spoke English with a Brooklyn accent and I knew the barest smattering of Yiddish. It never occurred to me to resent the fact I would need to learn some Spanish to effectively communicate with some of my patients.

I figured this out when I was just a kid, so can anyone tell me what the f*ck is the matter with this woman? She’s not the first to stage a confrontation because perfect strangers were speaking Spanish in their shared air space.  In fact, it’s become a regular feature in the news, along with white folks calling 911 on black folks for some really stupid reasons.  Why has it become acceptable, in some people’s minds anyway, to openly and aggressively display racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism, and the most malignant form of nationalism?

Hint: It has something to do with that guy born in Queens, NY. That gonif, the self-proclaimed nationalist.

noun: nationalism

1. patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts.

   synonyms:

   patriotism, patriotic sentiment, flag-waving, xenophobia, chauvinism, jingoism "their extreme nationalism was frightening"

   • an extreme form of this, especially marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries.

     plural noun: nationalisms

As it happens, I never did become a nurse, but my fractured Spanish was useful after all. Practicing law in Osceola County, which ranks right behind Miami-Dade as having the greatest number of
Spanish-speaking residents, I was able to communicate sufficiently with my clients, at least to direct them to my office where I always employed a Spanish-speaking paralegal or clerk. Most of them spoke some English anyway, so we managed the case just fine.

My personal belief is that multi-lingualism is a blessing, not something to be scorned or scolded. I was never great at foreign languages, but I always tried.  Traveling in foreign countries I am always pleasantly surprised at the number of people who speak English.  To me that was a great kindness, and made me feel welcome. Let’s face it, I don’t speak Italian (although I can understand a little because of its similarity to Spanish), nor Greek, Creole, or Korean (okay, I can follow the taekwando commands and say good morning and thank you in Korean but that’s it.) I can count to 15 and tell you my dog’s name in French (assuming my dog’s name is Fifi), follow tai chi Chinese, pray in Hebrew, and insult you in Yiddish.

I’m gonna stop here before I get preachy. Anyway, early voting has started here in Florida, so please take the time to vote.

*Translation: The sky is cloudy.  Very cloudy.