"Americans believe in something; Americans die for something." That was a quotation, part of a speech given by a contender for the office of President, possibly quoted out of context.

My dictionary tells me that the word "thing" refers to physical matter that can be owned. I am almost certain that the presidential candidate meant to imply that Americans believe in certain values, like freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Americans are willing to put their lives on the line when it comes to values stated in the Constitution. These are the values we hold dear. "Something," however, is not exactly the same. My bathtub is something, but I doubt if I would be willing to put my life on the line for my bathtub. That candidate is no longer headline newsworthy. Clearly, the wrong choice of words or the quotation out of context is as deadly to the political candidate as the assassin’s bullet.

Perhaps as a culture we are in danger of losing the proper attitude toward language. We say we speak English, but we are speaking American English. We write American English. It is a language that very proudly sets itself apart from other English languages. Yet we forget that having a written and spoken language guarantees us the posterity we deserve and desire. Nations, cultures, civilizations disappear into oblivion without a written record of their existence.

We still have a language today. Unfortunately, we no longer teach that language, or perhaps if we teach that language, we no longer require the practice of writing it correctly. Ask any student of any American public school exactly what a "sentence" in a paragraph consists of. Chances are that few will be able to tell you what a sentence or a paragraph is.

Most newspapers are written on a fifth-grade level, although the nation legally requires a minimum of ten grades of public education, gallantly striving for eight years’ elementary and four years’ high school education. We talk about "no child left behind" and permit our school administrators to overload the classrooms. We spend more money on sports, hire more overpaid coaches and administrators, and place more emphasis on test scores than on learning. We are rapidly approaching what George Bernard Shaw referred to as "the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue."

If we are to maintain our status of cultural excellence, we need to get back to the basics. We learn what we love. Maybe it’s time to teach the love of learning.

We enter this world endowed with an innate sense of curiosity. It’s time to nurture our curiosity for learning in the home and in the school. The necessary tools are available starting with the computer. My computer has a spell-check. Spelling errors are indicative of a lack of caring. The Internet offers ample opportunity to fine answers to questions. Perhaps we no longer encourage the curious mind. All the commercials we are forced to watch if we want to watch a television show of any kind, simply stress the urgency to satisfy a need for status, a need for wealth, and above all, a need for immediate gratification. There are no commercials advertising our need to communicate our values, our ethics, or our personal determination to be an asset to this country. There are no commercials advertising the importance of a written and spoken language to the survival of our culture. Communicating one single solitary thought in one’s mind without the assistance of language is almost impossible. We give little thought to the simple fact that having a language is the very foundation for achieving what we refer to as the American Dream.

There is a feeling of the loss of the American Dream. The American Dream was, is, and always will be based on the effort the dreamer makes to make a dream come true. That kind of effort is based on a willingness to sacrifice short-term goals and short-term pleasure for long-term success. America has had its share of dreamers who achieved their American Dreams, but not without sacrifice. Maybe we stopped following those kinds of heroes when we started looking for ten easy ways to get what we think we want, preferably yesterday.

The language crisis becomes more evident if one observes text messaging or blogging, or simply reads letters to the editor in a local newspaper. Go to Google and check it out. Go to Google and check the demise of the Philistines. History will point out that very little is known of the Philistine culture because the Philistines did not have a written language. If we don’t take care of the language we have, we will simply join in and follow the silent parade of nations and cultures that left little more than potsherds, the puzzling footprints of a mystifying existence long since disappeared into the foggy mists of a forgotten time.