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Every time I write the words fly fisher, I have to check myself. Do I need
to use a hyphen? If it's fly-fishing community it gets a hyphen. The same
with fly tying. Sometimes there is a hyphen and sometimes not. I'm confessing
here I was not an English major, my degree is in chemistry. My spelling is also
very bad and I keep a little spell checker, a dictionary, and the computer spell
checker very close.
There are times, however, where the hyphen doesn't really add to the thought.
We watch tv, read and listen to the radio. Our country is trying to get itself
back on track. My husband JC and I are struggling with the same feelings
and problems you are.
We as a country are probably more united than we have been since World War II.
There were those who felt we should not be involved in that one too. But had we
not fought we would live in a much different world today. It has probably crossed
your mind that countries under heavy military rule aren't bothered much by terrorists.
They don't have our freedom either, but then they really don't have a choice.
We all want to see America pull together. The political strife is over for now.
It will begin again, but for now no one in Washington D.C., wants to appear to
be against stopping terrorism.
I have a couple of suggestions.
It may appear simplistic on the surface, but think about it a bit before you write
me off as a nut-case. Note the use of "nut-case." Perhaps I should have said
"mentally challenged." One of the problems as I see it, is the toning down,
soft-pedaling of our speech. There is nothing wrong with being polite or
considerate - I encourage it, but there is something wrong with everything
being judged (by whom?) as "politically correct." Let's get rid of "politically
correct."
More importantly, let's get rid of HYPHENS!
Chinese-American, Japanese-American, Mexican-American, Asian-American,
Arab-American, African-American, are all divisive terms which separate those
groups from "Americans." They prevent all of us from being one cohesive
America. I understand most of the groups I've included want to retain their
origins and customs. Some feel they need extra attention for one reason or
another. But it seems to me the concept of "one nation, with liberty and justice
for all" begs us all to be one nation. It's obvious the terrorists didn't
see or accept any differences. They simply wanted to kill as many
Americans as possible.
JC says he is an "American-American," he said he adopted that so he wouldn't
feel left out. He gave it up though . . . found he was the only one!
Why not try getting rid of those ethnic hyphens? In speaking, the written word
and in our minds, we should all work at just being Americans. ~ LadyFisher
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