--Previous Message--
: I agree that it's sad that people lose their
: cultural and linguistic ties here in
: America. I was raised on a homestead and,
: as a child, all I ever heard about was
: culture, tradition, ancestors, ancestors,
: and more ancestors. I didn't even really
: understand that I was American until I was
: seven-years-old. It just never computed in
: my head.
:
: Once, in his youth, my father was standing
: by a river in Eastern Europe. On one side,
: was the Czech Republic, where he knew his
: family was, where his ancestors had lived,
: and he had never been able to step foot on
: it before and, thanks to the political
: climate of the day, it was illegal to do so.
: So, spurred on by youthful impetutousness,
: he says now, he dove into the water, stood
: on the soil from whence his people came for
: ten minutes, and then swam back, knowing all
: the whilte that, if caught on the land, he'd
: be shot. That's how rooted my father was to
: family history and, to this day, though he
: was born in Chicago, he only calls himself
: an American if someone weedles it out of
: him. It's not that he's ashamed of being
: born here--he's not. He just does not feel
: American and, growing up in a family that
: did not speak English at home, never has.
:
: Personally, I think that all cultures need
: change with time, but trying to become
: another culture or ignore your own is just
: plain bizarre to me. What you speak of
: saddens me though. Since, in America, our
: people can be so branched out, it can be
: hard to maintain the old ways.
:
: I don't speak Romanes, for instance. I've
: tried to learn it before and, what few words
: I do know, I try to memorize and hold onto,
: so I can give them to my children oneday. I
: once bought a book on how to learn it, but
: the book didn't explain pronunciation, and
: the only language courses in Romanes are
: offered in Texas. It's too bad it's not
: available to learn over the internet.
: Keeping one's language is one of the best
: guarantees to keeping one's heritage alive.
:
:
: dont worry they can still wear hat sidewaze and say whazzup and bandana piercigs etc and still be gypsys not fake rite?????????
:
Message Thread
« Back to index