Born Qualified (Short Story)

A stranger was sitting beside me in the bus while I was going home. He was speaking to someone on phone IN ENGLISH. His English exposed him as a non-native speaker. That made me concentrate on what he was saying.

The stranger in English: “I’ve just come back from the TOEFL exam; I think I did very well.” He pauses, “yes, I hope to”.” I will go tomorrow”. “I know it is a very expensive exam, I don’t know why do they take all that amount of money just to test our English!”. “Yes, exactly, they don’t add to our proficiency.”

He continues, “Do you know if I scored more than 600 in that exam, I could find better opportunities than just working as an instructor or a call center agent.” A pause, “I can apply for a resident visa and live in Canada or Australia.”

He looks listeninig to what the other party on the phone was saying, then he continued, “I don’t regret all my previous years studying my B.A. or my M.A., there is no need of my studies unless I speak English very well. Speaking English is considered a certificate by itself nowadays.

The man appears to get weak in speaking; he started to make some structural and semantic mistakes. Then he noticed me, and thought that I realized he is not a native English speaker. So he started finishing his call. “Honey, I have to go now, we can continue after I return home, I will open my messenger at eleven. I really enjoyed practicing speaking English with you. That is very helpful my dear.” “I love you too”.

Then I realized that he is faking up the whole conversation, just to improve his English. The question is “WHY”? Why knowing “some language” is considered a qualification. I felt urged to open a conversation with that guy. Of course I had to talk in my mother tongue so that people around us wouldn’t recognize us.

- “hello”, I said

- The man looks surprised and suspicious. “hi!”

- “May I have a little conversation with you?”

- Still looks suspicious, “ok”

- Where are you working in?

- I am a mathematician

- Mathematics, it is a beautiful language

- What do you mean?

- I have noticed you speaking in English, just to improve your English, why?

- Because It is the trendy language, everyone should speak in English

- It is beautiful to learn a language common by the majority of people, to facilitate communication, but…..

- It is not about communication, it is about getting a decent job

- Really!

- I work in a school, a mathematics teacher, with a masters degree in mathematics, and a post-graduate diploma in teaching and education, and I get paid a really funny salary.

- So you want to change your career?

- I search for jobs everywhere, only multinational corporations pay you high salaries.

- You are right, I work in one

- You know why?

- No, please tell me.

- Simply because they are ruled by the leaders of the world. By countries who divided the world’s fortune amongst themselves, and gave you and me the remaining.

- These countries are ruled by one big country called the U.S, which is simply leaded by corporations.

- Maybe you are right, back during imperialism; only those who learn the language of the imperialist are those who could find rewarding jobs by the ruling systems.

- Systems are found to search and find resources, and them divide them on those who have power.

- But there are rules and laws. Those who work hard are getting rewarded.

- You think. You can just look at all those who work low-paid salaries, and see how much effort they exert at their jobs.

- So, it is not a matter of how much you work, or how many certificates you have.

- Yes, it is simply, what is your nationality.

- That is racist.

- No it is not. Please go on with me

- Ok

- Who invented technology?

- The west

- Who get benefited from it?

- Well … everyone

- On the profit level

- I think the companies that sell such technology

- Which are ….. ?

- Western companies

- Good

- But technologies benefit us as well.

- How?

- It makes our life easier, and it facilitates communication between human beings, making the world one small village.

- The man laughs hysterically, “are you kidding me?” that is the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard.

- Sorry?

- First of all technology is a product you actually don’t need, but you buy so that others becomes more powerful and more rich. Simply, everything you have, anything you buy rather than those who satisfy your basic needs, are junk you actually don’t need, but they make you think that you need”

- That is so naïve of you, such corporations build economies

- Economy is a game, not everyone wins in it. Only those who set its rules win

- These companies help our countries become more rich and powerful.

- Country? The country spends such money on three things only: authority, people who have the right to dictate your life. And the army, which have to always buy old technologies from those companies who paid the money from the very beginning. And finally, on roads and bridges, to help you got to your job in time.

- You said it, jobs. Without these companies there will be no jobs.

- Dear, these are not called jobs, these are slavery, they enslave you for money, just when you have you spend on trivia’s they sell you. So finally, you work for free, just to increase their power. In fact they give you nothing. Their jobs offer no security, nor authority, nor freedom. Above all, they make you salesman, whose main target is to sell what your fellows don’t need to increase their profit.

- What about communication? Thanks to transportation you can go to anywhere in the world just in few hours, doesn’t that worthy the money paid for?

- Be honest, how many times have you traveled abroad?

- Never

- Why?

- Shamefully looking, because I am a citizen from a third world country

- What if you have a sign in your passport that says A U.S. CITIZEN

- The whole world will be opened to me

- Is not that racism

- It is indeed

- The man stands up, my station has come, I just want to add one more thing. You know that a native English speaker in my school hundred times my salary without even having a certificate in any field? Just because he is a native speaker. Just because he is born white.