Use Your Words - February 2014

Today’s post is a writing challenge. This is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.

Links to the other “Use Your Words” posts:

http://BakingInATornado.com                   Baking In A Tornado

http://www.justalittlenutty.com                 Just A Little Nutty

http://batteredhope.blogspot.com             Battered Hope

http://www. JuiceboxConfession.com          Juicebox Confession

www.theblacksheepmom.blogspot.com      Black Sheep Mom

http://stacysewsandschools.wordpress.com   Stacy Sews and Schools

http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/              Confessions of a part time working mom

http://www.eviljoyspeaks.wordpress.com     Evil Joy Speaks

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com         Spatulas on Parade

http://singlemumplusone.blogspot.com.au      Searching for Sanity

http://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com/               The Bergham’s Life Chronicles

www.fbxadventures.blogspot.com                      FBX Adventures (In Parenting)

http://www.healingtomato.com                     Healing Tomato

http://dates2diapers2.blogspot.com                Dates 2 Diapers 2

http://followmehome.shellybean.com               Follow me home . . .

www.outmannedmommy.com/                       Outmanned

MY WORDS -   melting pot ~ Dora the Explorer ~ motorcycle ~tennis shoes ~ playground

SUBMITTED BY - Dates 2 Diapers

I admit it. At first I was completely stumped. What on Earth? Dora AND motorcycle?? YILES!!! But then something came along. A commercial to be precise. A beautiful commercial that brought out the ugly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=443Vy3I0gJs

So, I'm about to give you my 2 cents. You don't have to agree with me. I just ask that you not be ugly about it. Ok? We all have different opinions and that's one of the things that makes this world a great place to be. Imagine for a second that everyone was the exact same. HOW BORING!!! The differences between people are make this world better.

Here we go. You can stop reading if you like. ;)

This is the United States of America. We were built of the foundations of "different". First of all, there were already people living here. Remember them? The Native Americans?

Then came the Europeans. The Spanish, the British, the French and the Dutch. Look at all of those diverse languages right there. Look at the differences in religion.

You have all the languages of the Native Americans and their religious beliefs. You have the languages and religious beliefs of the different European settlers.

Diversity.

Then that all ended with wars here and there, some land takeovers and some buying of land.

Now we are here in 2014. That's a lot of time. We have 5o states and each one had a different beginning. Some of them even spoke a different language! GASP! Like Hawaii not so long ago.

Did you know that we are supposed to be a "melting pot"?? Not a mortal and pestle to ground out all the native cultures. No. A melting pot to absorb, take in, mix around, become one with other cultures.

Did you know that you do NOT have to speak English to get a green card? Did you know that the immigrants that came here (even through Ellis Island) did NOT have to speak English? It has NEVER been a requirement. I knew a kid in high school whose grandmother could only speak Polish. Should we have tossed her out??

I thinkI HOPE most people in this country get it. I hope that sounds of the people throwing such a hissy over such a beautiful commercial were just the loudest and NOT the majority.

Take a look at TV. On Nick they have "Dora the Explorer" and "Ni Hao Kai Lan". Why? Because we are a melting pot. We have many different types of people and THAT is what makes this country great.

Did you know that you can't tell by just the way someone looks what type of person they are or where they "come" from? Take my Dad for an example. He has black hair, brown eyes and dark complected skin. He has been mistaken for Mexican and Filipino. He isn't. He's a mixture. French, German, Cherokee, Shawnee.... Irish.... WOW! My DAD is a melting pot. Imagine that. All those different languages in one person.

To further that conversation, my Dad was also a motorcycle rider. He LOVED it. He would still be riding today if it wasn't for his health issues. But you know what. People would judge him because he looked like a biker. He must be a bad person! Quick! Grab your kids up when he walks onto the playground!

See, it's all part of the same thing. Prejudice. Someone "looks" a certain way. Someone "sounds" a different way.

There was a story going around about a woman that was on her phone in the checkout line. She was speaking a GASP different language. She hangs up and the man behind her says to speak English or leave the country. She turns and tells him that she was speaking Navajo! BAM!!!

But I have to wonder. Did THAT matter?? Look at what happened to the many Native languages. A lot of them are gone and forgotten. Why?  Because Native American children were taken from their homes. Their hair was cut, their clothing changed. They were forced to learn English and were only allowed to speak English. Is that what the people throwing hissy fits want now?? Should we waylay every immigrant and lock them up until they speak English and only English?

I guess I just don't understand. I don't understand that kind of hate. What is it to you if someone can't/won't speak English? Maybe they tried and just couldn't get it.

That why we have China Town and Little Italy. There are in cities all over this country. Why? Well, mostly because the immigrants were treated SO HORRIBLY when they got here that they found other immigrants like them and settled in the same place.

EVERY SINGLE group of mass immigrants has been treated atrociously. The Italians, the Irish, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Jewish. Why? Because their religions were different. Their faces were different. Their skin was different. Their language was different.

And in 2014 we are still doing it.

Yes, yes... I know. You call a call center and it says to press 2 for Spanish. No, it does NOT say press 1 for English. Think about it or call one. You'll see. But do you know WHY it says that?? No, not because of all the non-English speaking people here. It's because the call centers are OVER SEAS! In OTHER COUNTRIES. Places where they learned English OR Spanish as a second language and they need to know WHO to put you through to. Imagine this.  The man on the other end at the call center  is not a native English speaker and you want him to figure out another person who is also not a native English speaker but trying to speaking English. Confused? You sure would be.

But, but some of our products at the grocery store are in Spanish, too! Well, you can find many products that are in French. There are even big sections in most big grocery stores that are entirely made up of products from other countries. Why? Because we are a melting pot.

But, but there's a sign at the store that says they speak Spanish, too! First of all, why does that bother you? They aren't asking YOU to speak  Spanish. They are just letting those that are more comfortable speaking Spanish know that they can speak it as well. Good for them.

Maybe that's my whole point. Why??? No one is asking you to change your language. No one is asking you to change your culture. And when it comes to American culture, tell me one thing that didn't come from somewhere else. Our entire culture is based on other cultures being mixed together.

So you know what *I* think??  I think those bigoted jerks that say you can only speak 'Murican in 'Murica should slap on their tennis shoes and take a flying leap. Most of us like our melting pot, thank you very much!

So, if you stuck it until the end. Thanks. I hope I didn't offend anyone, that wasn't my intention. It also wasn't my intention to try to change the way people think. Bigotry takes more than something like this post to change. But it's a start, right? More than anything this post is to let others out there know that they aren't alone in their thinking. Just because we aren't raising a big stink doesn't mean we think the same way as those that are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gqwlggKwJ8