Perspective

Do you lament the sad state of Gaelic and worry about its future? 
I'm sure this sort of mood strikes everyone who loves a minority language from time to time. How can these beautiful languages persevere in the face of such an overwhelming on slot of English?
I certainly am guilty of these thoughts some times. However, today I had a change of perspective. I was updating some pictures on the website and searching for some that would be just right. This can be somewhat of a long process because it is tricky to know what key word might bring up the image I am looking for. The thing  that struck me as I searched was that when I put the word 'Alba'  in the search bar, I got (mostly) pictures of Scotland. Some vague memory stirred of trying this a few years ago and getting mostly not pictures of Scotland.  
Seeing buzzfeed articles about Scottish Gaelic, being able to change the language setting in a lot of my computer programs to Gaelic ( Check out iGàidhlig for a good list of these), having on-line dictionaries and tones of Gaelic on You Tube, these all speak to me of a wider knowledge of Gaelic. They make me optimistic about Gaelic. It so much more accessible and findable, even by accident, than it was 10 years ago.
I really feel that if those of us who love the language keep using and creating this content then the presence of Gaelic both on and off line will grow and the language will flourish. 
For 2016 I wish you all this change of perspective, take heart, enjoy what is out there and create new things when you can't find what you need. 

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