Aria by Richard Rodriguez

REFLECTION

Reading Rodriguez's story made me question my own life. He talks about how speaking Spanish at home made him feel like he had a close relationship with his family. He was very protective about his languages, even saying this when his parents wanted their children to learn English. "In an instant, they agreed to give up the language (the sounds) that had revealed and accentuated our family's closeness." I instant felt pity for this poor boy who felt as though he was losing a part of his family. But then I remembered, there is a difference between pity and awareness, like we learned in class.

This article made me aware of the harshness people need to deal with if they do not speak English. I never knew that it could make someone feel this way. I suppose that I would also feel as though I was losing my family and a sense of who I am, but I was never taught the ramifications of telling people "You're in America. Speak English." I tried to make this a youtube post, but as I searched through the videos, all of the titles seemed extremely crude and disrespectful. I did not agree with what they say so I did not want to post them.

But that made me realise that if I looked at over 20 videos and each horrific as the next, all the videos would be like this. That would mean that a majority of people would believe that those who are in this country that don't speak English need to learn it or they will be discriminated against. This makes me upset because our country is suppose to welcome all kinds of people. But by doing this, they are discriminating against many.

In my own life, I grew up never having to deal with discrimination of this kind. so reading this article really made me think about what Americans are doing. They are forcing people to lose their culture. This boy lost his connection with his family, especially his parents. "I no longer knew what words to use in addressing my parents." He said that he felt like an American citizen, but then had a negative comment. "But the special feeling of closeness at home was diminished by then. Gone was the desperate, urgent, intense feeling of being at home; rare was the experience of feelings myself individualized by family intimates." I was touched and upset by what he had said. That American's make other people feel as though they need to change their life and lose their closeness to family.

Although I never have head to deal with these problems directly, I still am greatly upset by what American's are doing. I am puzzled by these actions and am ashamed to be grouped with the people that do this. I really wish that one day there will be a time that people are more widely accepted.