PRESS 1 FOR HUMAN

"It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences."

      ~ Audre Lorde ~

I see signs like the ones you see above almost every day.  I see them on social media, billboards, websites, etc.  I hear it at the fire station or from the person down the street.  Well, I gotta tell you, I'm tired of it.  If your only problem is that you have to press 1 for English, then you certainly have first world problems, indeed.  Millions of people on this planet are starving.  They don't have enough to eat.  They don't have fresh water, or modern sewage systems.  And what food they DO have is suspect in quality.  In fact, often the donations you make to feed the hungry are actually stolen by the government of the starving nation.  Press 1 for English.  You fuckin' kidding me?

For those of you that adhere to this short-sighted, selfish, asinine, philosophy, let me share a bit of a history lesson with you.  You're standing on stolen soil.  Had you forgotten?  Oh right, "America" wasn't ours to begin with.  And once we stole it, we "won" our independence from England, the country we CAME from!!  

You want to know why you and I are Americans and speak English?  Well, I'll tell you.  We got lucky.  We just happened to be born here and it just so happens that's the language most people speak here.  You're an english-speaking, Christian (or not), American because HERE is where you were born and THIS is what your parents taught you. Here's a surprise.  If you'd been born in Mexico, you'd speak Spanish.  China? Mandarin.  Iraq?  Farsi or something like it.  You live where you live, speak the language you speak, and follow the religion of your choice, simply. because. this. is. where. you. were. born.

When exactly did we lose sight of the Land of the Free and become the Land of "Fuck you! It's mine and you can't have it!!!"?  Seriously.  When?  Oh, and you're ok with immigrants as long as they show up legally like your great-grandfather?  Your great-grandfather stepped off a boat, signed a paper, and got an inoculation.  It's hardly that simple today.  And if you think you wouldn't swim a river in the middle of the night to make a better life for your family, then you're either lying or you're a weasel.  Get serious. 

Tell me.  Please tell me.  Exactly what difference does it make what language we speak?  Who cares?  You're using language as just one more barrier to helping us come together as humans.  YOUR country, MY country.   MY state, YOUR state.  YOUR language, MY language.... skin, religion, ad infinitum.

Oh wait, but you're concerned many of our "illegal" immigrants are terrorists or drug dealers?  That just makes me laugh.  A FRACTION!  A fraaaaaaaction of the dealers, thieves, murderers, and terrorists we have here already.  You must mean you don't want any more.  And don't even get me started on the taxes they don't pay or the jobs they steal.  Stop listening to the hype on CNN.  Pull your head out of your ass and think for yourself.

So while we're trying to think for ourselves, lets address terrorism.  I'm completely against it.... from ANY place on the planet and that includes the good ole USA.  You think other parts of the world don't see our military actions in the name of freedom acts of terror?  Gee, that's funny.  That's exactly what "terrorist" states are doing.  Their military actions in the name of (place your cause here) are seen as terror.  Ours are seen as "defending freedom."  You know how many innocent civilians are killed by all these terrorist acts?  Not nearly as many as we've killed in the name of freedom.  We've even increased the death toll from 911 from around 3,000 to tens of thousands.  

Look, can't we be civil?  Can't we be humans?  Not far in the future, perhaps even in our lifetime, water is going to be a serious issue.  You think oil is a problem?  Wait until we start killing each other over having enough to drink.  You won't care if there's enough gas to get to the store for food.  You'll be defending your home from terrorists who want your water.  I'd love to think we'd share, but I'm losing hope.

I would LOVE to get into Climate Change, the whole "Democrat vs Republican", the smoke and mirrors of our Republic, etc., but now that you're thinking for yourself, maybe you'll figure it out.  One can only hope.  This isn't OUR country.  It's OUR planet, and we'd better start acting like it and work together or there won't be people to wage war on each other.  Maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Press 1 for English?  You bet your ass.  I'm happy to do it.  

Welcome to America.