TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Even Barbers Struggle To Communicate

ADVERTISEMENT

By Raleigh Whiteman | Highlands Today

Published: October 25, 2007

A sign of the times came into a barber shop the other day.
As I was getting my hair cut, the barber had read my column about how we are being overcome with non-English speaking immigrants, related to me about a happening a few days ago.

This orange picker walked into the shop and knew just enough English to query how much for a haircut. He was told with sign language and 10 fingers it would be $10. He then held up five fingers and the barber shook his head no. The man then pointed to a sign that had the number 5:00 and looked for an answer. The sign was one that indicated the hours of operation 8:30-5:00.
He shook his head and walked away without getting it cut.

I guess if you came from a town where no one can read or write, there would be no signs telling anyone anything, you would not know any better. It somewhat pointedly states just why there are so many Mexicans and others wanting to live here in the United States; no matter how difficult and expensive it is to get here, they will keep on trying.

Stopping The Flow

Back in early Oct. 2006, President Bush arranged a $1.2 billion budget for a 700-mile border fence, along with cameras, sensors, satellites and other security measures, to create a "21st-century" border. The fence alone is roughly estimated to cost twice that amount. Many Americans are in favor of an increased number of Border Patrol agents, while less then half of those questioned agreed with the fence.

There are an estimated 13 million Mexicans living in the U.S., and about four million of them are estimated to be illegal. However, since illegal immigrants are not registered in any official sense, this number may be much higher, and other figures have circulated in the press.

There's an old saying in aviation, "Past the point of no-return." Which is a position on the route of flight that is farther away from where you started that it is to the place you are headed.

They're Not Going Back

The logistics of getting all the illegals back into Mexico is overwhelming and not very likely to ever happen. Bush is right in trying to stop the flow even if some of the border agents disagree with the methods.

It's very likely that we will just have to learn how to cope with those who are here and find ways to get them legalized and naturalized and contributing as much as Americans do in all ways
Here, as in other areas where harvesting a crop is a necessity, we have a need for those who are here illegally or are not yet naturalized. Someone would have to show me the white or black Ameircan who is working in the groves regardless of how hard up he is. First he would have to cope with the language barrier and second it is just too hard of a job.

We are lucky that those who are working the groves are mostly young. They will, in time, move on to better jobs and learn our language and perhaps become an American.

It's disappointing that we are seeing so many of them, in relation to their numbers as compared to the total population in the police blotter space for criminal activity.

Raleigh Whiteman, of Lake Placid, can be reached on the Internet at rwwhiteman@comcast.net

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT