-Unknown
Why do we study English? It is a question that many people have debated over the course of many years. After all, a lot of people find English class boring, it seems like such a drag to have to read and write about stuff when someone else is telling you what to read and what to write, not to mention that many of the people you're reading and writing about have been dead for an awfully long time. English is your native tongue; it is your birthright. It is how you communicate your wants, needs, desires, hopes, dreams, frustrations, passions, loves, hates, anything anyone will ever know about you they will know through your deeds and your words.
The only method for a baby to express itself is to cry until a caretaker comes and sees to its needs. You have gone far beyond babyhood. Babies learn to speak through the words of their parents and others they have daily contact with. Yes, you learned to talk even before you set foot in a school, but to embrace the true power and meaning of words, you came before teachers who unlocked the magic of how to read, how to write, to decipher the code which soon dominated your very life. Try hard to imagine what it was like not to know how to read or communicate. I cannot remember a time when I couldn't read or write, I cannot remember a time when I couldn't tell someone what I thought or felt.
You probably don't know it, but you write English a lot too. Every note you send to one of your friends, every time you E-mail someone, anytime you put your name to paper, you are saying something unique. Yes, you know something about English, it has shaped the way you have learned and grown, it has given you a world of possibilities, flavors, experiences, hopes, excitements, and endless moments of ecstasy. Having something to say, something to express for others to read and think about, having a burning desire to express yourself for all to experience, to leave some physical trace on the thought patterns of the world before you die, these are the reasons we learn English.
We look at the words of men and women long since dead because they too were once your age, they too had a world of thoughts, emotions, passions, and dreams, and like them, they wanted to find a way to give meaning to their ideas. By reading the words of others, we can discover what it is we think and believe. English is the place where your words take flight, where you can learn to reach people with what you seek, think, believe, and dream. It is important that you know how English is used, how others have used it, and how to maximize its impact on others. To do this you must learn proper English, not the kind you use with your friends and family, but the kind that you use formally. Once you understand this, you can seek out your own styles and uses of words.
English is the power of imagination, it is the stuff of dreams, it is an art, a gift, and without it, you would not know of TV's or movies, music, or video games. Without a language to convey the possibilities, humans would have done no great thing; no great inventions could be created. Your birthright is waiting for you to take it and do something spectacular with it; it is the first step towards finding a voice that is as unique as you are. Embrace your future; embrace the writings and thoughts of others as they help you find your own. Dream, think, experience, and know.
An Englishman named Sir Francis Bacon once said: "Knowledge is power," and you will discover the truth of these words. When the time comes for you to take command of the world around you, when your parents and their parents hand you the keys, your command of language will greatly influence where you may go and what you may do. If you want the power to change the face of things, to rise up above the expectations of others and realize possibilities past your wildest dreams, learn English, learn it well. The gateway to all there is or will ever be is through communication.
English is your language; your birthright, the very meaning of life, and it is the only way to find yourself, to be a part, to walk through that gateway and make your life extraordinary.
Without English your world is devoid of color, of imagination, of dreams, of passions and possibilities. Without English, you live in a desert with no water, a barren place with no way to tell others what you think and feel. Without English, you have no way in which to reach others from within. Without English you are surrounded by others, but remain truly alone.
O me! O life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd
with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself,
(or who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean,
of the struggle ever renew'd
Of the poor results of all, of the
plodding and the sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me
intertwined.
The question, O me! so sad, recurring-What good amid these,
O me, O life?
That you are here-that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
-Walt Whitman