When we came to Canada, on our way to the USA, in 1957, no one in the family spoke English at all. My brother was 7 and had to start school over. The first thing we did was learn to speak English, at all cost. My brother taught all of us after being in school all day. People made fun of my family all the time about our broken English and the families heavy accent. My brother and I have no accent, but both my parents went to the grave speaking very good English, but both still had very strong accents. There was a guy my dad worked with that went out of his way to wait for my dad to make a mistake in his English and then pounce on him and laugh, making my dad feel very uncomfortable and to be honest, it made him feel stupid. One day, after this happened again, I cornered the guy and explained to him that my family worked very hard, every day, in an effort to be good and true Americans. I asked him to give my family a break and move on. He laughed and made a comment about being a Nazi. I don't know if anyone really understands what it is to call a German a Nazi. To a German, at least in our home, it's like being called the N-word. I realized at that point that this redneck ************* was looking for what I gave him, a real good American *** whooping. I left him on the floor and never looked back. It was years before this guy would even look at any of us. He still thought that he was the real deal and we were invaders, fine with me, but, keep it to yourself.
A few months ago there was a women, here, from Mexico on TV explaining why her husband shouldn't be deported after being in this twenty years, illegally. After being here twenty years, she was speaking to the News reporters through an interpreter. Let me be clear here, to be in this great country, you have to become part of this great country. If you can't even take the time to learn to speak the language of the country you're in, you really don't want to be here for the right reasons. At the end of the day, it's just my brother and I now. I am, who I am, because of my parents. My brother and I buried two great AMERICANS in the last few years and proud of it. RIP.......
