I don\u2019t always speak Spanish, but when I do, I prefer having Jose Rafael Rodriguez (aka, my translator \u201cDanny\u201d) somewhere in the immediate vicinity. I am neither the most interesting man in the world, nor the most bilingual.<\/p>\n
I tried to memorize enough Spanish eye care phrases to get by on my recent trip to Guatemala, but despite my best efforts and intentions, I found myself leaning hard on Danny. I would usually start out the day doing a passable job-abre sus ojos <\/em>(\u201copen your eyes\u201d), mira arriba <\/em>(\u201clook up\u201d) \u2013but as things got hot and busier and I became increasingly fatigued, I started to mangle my rote phrases more and more. I would then simply shrug and look at Danny and motion toward the patient with my head, body language for \u201cYeah, yeah, I know, go ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n He knew I couldn\u2019t get along without him and he relished it and wouldn\u2019t let me forget. One of my favorite things to ask the patient at the end of the consult was Tiene preguntas?<\/em> (Do you have any questions?). I pride myself on being the kind of doctor who doesn\u2019t rush from the room to put out another fire until the patient has had their say. I would say the phrase perfectly (Prrrray-GOON-toos!) and wait for the patient to reply.<\/p>\n Nueve <\/em>times out of diez<\/em>, this came in the form of a quizzical stare and a cocked head. I would shrug and look at Danny and he would repeat the phrase word for word to the patients\u2013the same way I had<\/em>\u2013and suddenly the proverbial light bulb would appear in one of those little fluffy, cumulus thought clouds above their heads. While the patients would launch into a litany of preguntas<\/em>, more than I could count, really, Danny would simply look at me and grin.<\/p>\n I was thinking about those times and smiling this past Sunday during \u201cHispanic Emphasis Day\u201d at our church. Once again, I was mispronouncing most of the Spanish words to the songs on the bilingual PowerPoint slide (yes, I actually payed attention to them this time), but I was having fun trying. I liked the idea that even though I couldn\u2019t roll the \u201cRs\u201d like I was supposed to, that at least my heart was in the right place. In fact, as I looked out on what is normally an ocean of pale, lily-whiteness and spied a swirling eddy of chocolate brown, my heart nearly leaped from my chest.<\/p>\n I wondered what it would be like if we met together and went to the extra effort of having bilingual services more often. I wondered if, like the capable bilingual preacher from Abilene had said that morning, we might become a little bit less \u201cIngl\u00e9s church\u201d and \u201cHispanic church\u201d and a little more \u201cUno church.\u201d Maybe I could learn a little more Spanish, and they could learn a little more English. Maybe, even, there would be a little less \u201cUs and Them\u201d and a little more just \u201cUs.\u201d<\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t help but marvel at the timeliness of it all, how just the previous week a certain Republican gubernatorial wannabe in Alabama had made national headlines with his proclamation in a televised ad that if he was elected governor that the state driver\u2019s license exam would be given in English only (it is currently given in 12 languages). \u201cThis is Alabama, we speak English. If you want to live here, learn it,\u201d he puffed.<\/p>\n When I heard that I thought, well, I suppose learning the language of a new host country is very important, but in order to do that and to begin the process of becoming a legal and responsible resident, wouldn\u2019t one need to drive to work and perhaps even to an English as a Second Language class?<\/p>\n But of course, his message isn\u2019t about hospitality to strangers or pragmatic, real-life concerns. It\u2019s about garnering votes, and really, a certain kind of vote<\/em>, for a primary less than a month away. It\u2019s a dog whistle that reaches far into both the privileged, well-manicured enclaves and the dense, primeval backwoods of this state, calling forth the same spirit of folks who once upon a time not that long ago thought that literacy tests prior to voting were a very fine idea indeed.<\/p>\n Make no mistake about it; that Alabama governor wannabe knows exactly<\/em> what he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n I looked out upon that ocean of lily-whiteness and wondered how many of my fellow congregants had nodded in affirmation and replied \u201cPreach on, brother,\u201d when they saw that political ad on TV. Not many, I hoped. But if there were some there, I prayed that that maybe this sweet fellowship was melting their hearts and causing them to rethink their position a little.<\/p>\n Then I looked into my own heart and asked myself how much I had done personally to help welcome the strangers in my midst, and the answer was no mucho<\/em>.\u00a0 And it occurred to me that if Alabama was to be casera dulce<\/em> for all, that maybe I should get off my lazy asno<\/em>, put my dinero<\/em> where my boca<\/em> is, and finally order that Rosetta Stone software I\u2019ve been threatening to buy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don\u2019t always speak Spanish, but when I do, I prefer having Jose Rafael Rodriguez (aka, my translator \u201cDanny\u201d) somewhere in the immediate vicinity. I am neither the most interesting man in the world, nor the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,33,105,23,36,76,106,70,104,20,27,40,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-churches-of-christ","category-clinica-ezell","category-current-events","category-eyes","category-faith","category-guatemala","category-health-care","category-health-talents-international","category-huntsville","category-politics","category-southern-culture","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3506"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9086,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3506\/revisions\/9086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}