Surrey - The Editor, Re: "Outrage over foreign language usage puzzling," the Now letters, July 10.
Bravo to the Now for printing Al Payne's letter on the first page of the Debate section.
I, too, was appalled and offended at writer's comments in the July 3 "Roses and Rotten Tomatoes" column.
The writer said it was rude of workers to speak to each other in a foreign language. I was particularly offended about the writer's misguided assumption that finding it rude is "what a lot of us are feeling and thinking."
Speak for yourself! One of the many advantages to living in Surrey is being in the company of so many cultures and languages different than mine.
I am especially eager to communicate with friends, neighbours and colleagues who speak a language other than English. The the personal distress noted by this one sad individual is not "what a lot of us are feeling and thinking" at all.
Theirs seems to me to be a very smallminded, arrogant self-centred opinion, and not one that my Caucasian friends, neighbours or colleagues support in any way, shape or form.
And speaking of brave, try supporting your family in a completely unfamiliar country with no common language or customs to refer to. This, right here, is where the true courage is at.
Thank you, Al Payne. All I can say is, you only said what a lot of us are feeling and thinking.
Bravo!
Lukas Walther, Surrey