Have you ever traveled in a land whose language you did not know, and felt a bewildering sense of separation from the natives with whom you could not communicate? Language barriers sometimes result in misunderstandings or even mutual suspicion and fear.
One day I was a guest in a hotel where the maid could not understand any language I was able to speak. I broke a purse mirror. It seemed unwise to leave the broken glass in the wastebasket, so I took it to the maid and asked her to throw it away. She put her hands behind her, shook her head, and looked terrified. Only when I learned from the desk clerk a few words of her language and could explain my request, did she regain her composure. I had been trying to do something for her protection, but she thought I was accusing her of breaking the mirror!
This is an example of the misunderstandings and distrust sometimes arising between individuals or—on a much magnified scale —even between nations, merely because they do not comprehend each other's language or viewpoint.
