We speak, and write, in one of the most diverse, gloriously ecumenical tongues on the planet. In English, there is a word or phrase for pretty much anything we want to say, and if there isn't, we make it up, and it is welcomed into the family. We can express ourselves as complexly or as simply as we like. We can be magniloquent didacts, or we can talk plain.

As human beings, how do we choose to react in that instant when someone walks toward us, smiles, and begins to speak?

The standard clauses of the American dream only included two weeks of vacation a year.