Oy vey, tis simply bashert

I recently was accused of being prejudiced and why, you might ask? Because of the way one girl thought I viewed her friend: her friend being a casual tomboy in contrast to my devoted girly tendencies. I was so surprised I didn't even attempt to defend myself, other than a terse, "I disagree with you." But what I found most disheartening was not that a woman I considered a close friend would assume I could be so shallow and cold toward another woman simply because she differed from me, but that the attack was coming from someone who weekly voices prejudices towards those who are Jewish. And she is sadly, not the only one. You'd think after so many decades we could learn from our Great Grandparents' and Grandparents' mistakes but our generation is just as ignorant as our parents and their parents and theirs. And it makes me sad to think if I have kids, will they continue the stereotypes and the hatred and the presumptions just because somebody's take on Jesus differs from theirs.



I think what startled me the most was not the ignorance of people to associate culture and religion with how pleasant a person will be but when I confronted those about it, they couldn't even see how absurd they were being. They began justifying to me how their biases were founded, how "those Jews" being oh so unpleasasnt isn't because they are human and fallen and possess just as much "Hyde" as the rest of us, but it is because and only because they are Jewish. It reminded me of the book I read in Nazi Culture (a class at PSU) written from the Nazi perspective and how they argued their case, they did have persuassive arguments for why the Jews were the cause of so much grief.

Why is it we can study the past and judge our ancestors so readily but we are so jaded and blinded as to recognize our own hypocrisy in our daily lives? I imagine being a middle class female Christian I must sound pretentious and ludicrous and maybe if I, myself, were Jewish then my offense over the constant comments of my peers would be founded.

But my best friend happens to have been raised Jewish and I can only imagine how she would feel if she had to listen to the things I frequently overhear. If you sit idly by while something unjust goes on around you, then it makes you in a way a part of the injustice. I wish people could spend more time focusing on how blessed they are and less on how inferior others are and then maybe we could all spend more time smiling together and fewer hours drinking and kvetching.