Would you go silently into the night?

Every time I write something in Finnish people complain I can?t write in Finnish. Every time I write something in Swedish people complain that they don?t understand.
Well I?m going to write this in English so everyone can understand me.

I?m a Swedish speaking Finn. I know many of you Finnish speakers don?t like ?pakkoruotsi?. When I was in high school I didn?t like ?pakkosuomi? either. But I need it today and I have learned since high school and I?m trying to learn more.

But if you are from Karjala you will probably never need Swedish and a Swedish speaking Finn from Ahvenanmaa will never need Finnish. But if you live in Pohjanmaa you will need both whether whatever mother tongue is.

Maybe language courses should be voluntary or be region based. Only Finnish speakers in Uudenmaa,Varsinaissuomi and Pohjanmaa would have to learn Swedish. And only Swedish speakers in Mainland Finland would have to learn Finnish (not Ahvenanmaalaiset).

Language education in the countries second language could be totally voluntary. It could be either in the whole country or only in the single language regions. Those who want to learn Finnish/Swedish or need to could choose it in high school like you choose German, French or Russian today.

Don?t hate us because you didn?t like Swedish lessons in school. It?s our mother tongue and the language of our next-door neighbour. We were born like that. We are not responsible for your traumatic experiences in school. Maybe it is wrong to learn to someone something you will never need or use but isn?t that what education is about in many cases?

It is often said that Swedish-speaking Finns have special rights, that we are treated better and think we are better. We are not. We have the same right as everyone who lives in Finland have, either less or more: the right to use our mother tongue. We are fighting for our rights to be equal. Everyday we see less and less speak and understand our language. This is our swan song. We will be gone one day.

I know we Swedish speaking Finns are disappearing. A hundred years ago over 15 % spoke Swedish, today 6 %. A few hundred years from now most of our descendants will most likely speak Finnish or live in Sweden. It?s not a future I welcome but it?s coming whether I like it or not.

Swedish and Finnish speaking Finns are not that different form each other. We are one nation, one people and 2 different languages. We are the same. Finns are stubborn and proud. So let me ask to all of you whether you mother tongue is Swedish or Finnish.

If your end were coming would you accept your faith? Would you go silently into the night? Disappear without even someone remembering you

Or would you resist with all your fighting spirit. Would you go kicking and screaming all the way to the very end? Making sure that they would remember you.

I believe that none of us would go silently into the night. We are all to proud, to stubborn and to Finnish to do that.