Today I decided to pick up the phone and call the credit card that I had charged when I got tires for the Ford before I sold it. My intent was to pay the card off so I did not have to worry about it any more. So I dialed the 1-800 number and waited. Soon a voice came on the line instructing me to "press 1 for English."
Wait a minute! Press 1 for English? Who are we kidding here? Where am I? Am I not in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave? The land where the Constitution is written in English. The Bill of Rights is in English. The Declaration of Independence is written in English. My President speaks to me on the television in English. Press 1 for English? I think not.
I hung up the phone. Of course I called back later and pressed 1 for English because I did want to pay the bill, and English is the only language I know. So here I set tonight wondering if I am unreasonable? I hear about minorities and I now think I must be the minority. If I had not pressed English, what language would I have gotten? The voice did not mention any other language, just told me to press 1 for English.
Now, as I think about it, a lot of things have changed and I just did not notice. I was talking to my son this evening and learned he had lost his cell phone for some reason and he needed to make a call. There are no pay phones, or so he says and I have no reason to doubt him. I know there used to be pay phones every block or so, but now I try to think if I have seen one and I don't think so. Not much need for them when everyone has a cell phone stuck in their ear.
I know vinyl records, 8 track tapes, and cassette players have all been replaced by MP3 players and Lord only knows what else. Cars have camera's to see behind you when you reverse the car. Wifi is every where. Money has been replaced with a plastic card. Theaters are about a thing of the past.
I long for the good old days when we hung our clothes on the line to dry. A night on the town consisted of a trek up the long stair way to the second floor to dance at the "Crystal Ballroom" where the big shiny ball hung above our heads and caught the light as it spun slowly around. I always thought it was magic. All the songs were in English.
I know our world is changing and apparently I did not get the memo when English was made a secondary language and I had to press 1 to hear it. My food has been genetically modified so much that I can leave a tomato on the counter for a month and it looks the same as the day I put it there. I can leave a loaf of bread on the counter and it just sets there until I either eat it or throw it out. Can't even make penicillin out of it. My 7 year old grandson has hair under his arms thanks to growth hormones in the meat products we eat. Technology is such that news from around the world is in my front room 3 minutes later. I have come to accept this as normal, but press 1 for English just might be the straw that broke this old camels back!
