Being Jewish
Believe it or not, I have not nor will I share my thoughts on the situation in Israel. There is no point in it from where I am. I am almost 50 years old and this situation was there my whole life, and well before I was born. My adding any insight will not help the situation. My telling you that I do not agree with many aspects of all of it will not help either.
But I am pretty angry now. See, I grew up in North Carolina. Believe it or not, Charlotte is a very progressive city and has a large Jewish population. You go 2 miles outside the city limits, well, thats different.
So I grew up with people accusing me of killing Jesus. While my dad was a foreman in a factory, everyone assumed he was a laywer. When my parents tipped well in restaurants, everyone assumed they gave 3%. I once went to a wedding where they put a bottle of Manischewitz wine on the table to “make me feel more comfortable”. While Charlotte was progressive, many people would not have me over because I was Jewish. In fact, after high school, I vowed to never date anyone that was not Jewish because of the way parents treated me. And I kept to that promise.
I was not a great student when I should have been because I was Jewish. I did not live in a big house or drive a nice car. I am telling you all of this because there were many times I wished I was not Jewish. And converting would mean nothing because I am Jewish, like that is what it is. Plus, I would not convert. But I thought it would be easier to enjoy Christmas instead of a day where I was not allowed to eat or drink anything. While kids were chasing Easter bunnies, I had to eat a bland ass cracker for eight days. So parts of me were self loathing. Other parts were proud of the strength of my parents and grandparents. How they truly fought hatred head on. I remember my mom telling me she would go to school in Poland kids would throw rocks at her. But she would do the same thing every day. And it made me realize how strong both my mom and dad are. Both parents coming to America barely speaking English only to master the language and be successes.
So now I see college kids and others thinking they just realized there is an issue in Gaza. But it is different now. The people who always supported me for being Jewish blame me for things I did not do. I am not a part of the government in Israel. I never was. I vote for the most liberal candidate to win. If you think not voting for Biden will help, you are an absolute idiot. So lately people who liked me do not. On thje flip side, the people who are Antisemitic pretend to love me. Pretend to love Israel. Well, here is the thing. I am smart enought to know most right wing people hate Jews. But they hate Muslims more. So they just picked their hate.
And do not try and pretend like I do not understand. I understand better than most. I heard about most from those who dealt with it first hand. Not from a Tiktok video or an influencer. People are not informed. I assure you.
So now I am without a side. it is the way I feel. My anger with far left and “The Squad” and so many other Democrats I cannot deny. But it will never surpass my hatred for the far right. Someone asked me if Rashida Tliab ran against a MAGA who would I vote for? And I thought about it. The fact that I thought about it saddened me. But because of women’s rights, local charities, and support of the LGBTQ community, I would vote for Tliab. But would not be happy about it.
So I am not sure why I am writing this today. I have so mch to tell you including workouts and my son and my daughter and my business parter/sister/friend. But when I see these protests and I see people asking my son questions or spouting hate because of his religion, I question people.
And I will always vote for the candidate who will help people who need it the most. But I cannot call myself a Democrat anymore. Especially after how I have been treated by so many who claimed to like me.
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