* This morning at the coffee shop we had a discussion about
languages. One of the aspects that I enjoy about being in this
country is that, usually, when there are several people together,
there is a possibility they are a mini United Nations.
  There were only four of us collectively but we listed the
languages we could ‘represent’.
  It was kind of impressive, here's the list.

          Romanian
          Rroma (Gypsy)
          Hungarian
          Slovakian
          Serbian
          German
          Czechoslovakian
          Russian
          French
          English
          Spanish
          Pulaar - African
          Esperanto

  Not bad, huh, considering there were only four of us.
  We discussed a little about how Esperanto was founded
with the intention to be … the language that would tie it all
together.
  Here’s the Wikipedia explanation …

Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international
language. The name derives from Doktoro Esperanto, the
pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof first published the Unua
Libro in 1887. The word itself means 'one who hopes'. Zamenhof's
goal was to create an easy and flexible language as a universal
second language to foster peace and international understanding.

Although no country has adopted the language officially, it has
enjoyed continuous usage by a community estimated at between
100,000 and 2 million speakers. By some estimates, there are
about a thousand native speakers.

Today, Esperanto is employed in world travel, correspondence,
cultural exchange, conventions, literature, language instruction,
television (Internacia Televido) and radio broadcasting.

  During the conversation a thought came to mind seeing as
tomorrow is ‘Valentine’s Day’. I told the other guys that
notwithstanding the fact that Esperanto was invented as a world
wide language, there is a language that exists and serves that
function. 
  They asked me what language was that … I told them it was
the language of love. As crazy as that sounded … they agreed,
but I think they agreed like guys would agree.
  On the walk home I thought about the language of love and
realized that not enough people knew how to speak it as it
pertains to peoples and cultures other than themselves.
  I have a pretty bizarre quirk and that is that I have a tendency
to like people that like me. I don’t know if I am the only person
in the world that has this inclination. 
  Maybe if we love all peoples we will learn how to speak, the
true international language. We have to understand amongst
ourselves the fact that we are all tied together. If we like people
who like us no matter who we are or where we come from,
then it may have the avalanche effect with a lot of suffering
wiped off the side of the mountain of prejudice, greed and hate.
  It is obvious that this is a fairly heavy topic for a simple blog
article but it is a rainy day and I need something to do. So 
why not work on World Peace for a half and hour or so?
  But I am challenging everyone who reads this blog to remember
that Valentine’s Day is a day dedicated to love. After giving
your loved ones a present and good wishes, why not go outside,
look up the sky and ask this question from your heart …
World, will you be my Valentine?