A Bilingual Cat in Disguise

Somebody has to say something! If not me, who? If not now, when? There is a joke about a bilingual mother cat who gives a lesson to her kittens about the importance of a foreign language when they encounter a junkyard dog on the street. What if the bilingual cat crosses the line to fetch the food in the territory of the canine world?

In this flat world now, many people speak more than one language to see the world with more perspectives. The multilingual people are more humble and modest, because they know the world is so big that there are all kinds of people in existence.

But if people of language skills take advantage of the system, say in Toastmasters, it's disturbing. Take bilingual Toastmasters clubs, for example, they seize the opportunity to compete at contests of different languages. They cross the line to another territory, namely another area to loot. Being a toastmaster, I'm obliged to safeguard the system, in the name of Fairness.

Birds of a feature flock together, so are people. I am a polyglot, and I am proud of myself. But I shall stay away from those bilingual cats in disguise. There is a Chinese saying, "If you live with a lame person you will learn to limp. 近朱者赤，近墨者黑". People just can't be too careful to be selective about friends in the human societies, including the Toastmasters.