Opinion: Gracias, Tim Kaine

To the editor: The article on Tim Kaine’s use of Spanish missed the point.

The responses were to questions that assumed a simplistic equating of language use with Latino votes. (“Seeking results in any language,” Aug. 3)

What matters is that Kaine learned a foreign language out of an interest in immersing himself in another culture, an endeavor that brings with it an expanded world view that allows one to more easily see any given situation from a variety of perspectives. It is this qualification that should attract voters, whether Latino or not.

Kaine’s intentions in using Spanish in his speeches may be less about influencing votes than about simply sharing who he is — someone whose experience in another culture is now part of his own.

Nancy da Silveira, Claremont

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