Quite a day
So I always thought American Jewish people had a tendency to overstate the amount of anti-semitism that exists in our country. I have simply never had an incident with anti-semitism. I'm one of only two Jewish people in my department of 50, and my experience has been that non-Jewish people are fascinated to learn about Jewish culture and rituals. I'm often asked questions about the religion, and the closest it ever gets to off-color is when people will jokingly offer me bacon or laugh when the Christmas tree gets placed right outside my office.
But okay, maybe people are just nice to my face. What do they REALLY think about Jews? My guess is: they don't. I simply don't think it's any more part of their lives than thinking about Baptists is part of my life.
I still believe this, but today Mark experienced an anti-Semitic incident for the first time. Part of his job (thankfully, a small part) is to handle customer service. Mark's boss has a Jewish last name, and when an angry customer couldn't get a refund, he called Mark and yelled and used anti-Semitic phrases.
Mark was really upset by it. It's very unfortunate that these sentiments still exist in our country, even if in small numbers. Have any of you experienced open hostility due to your race or ethnicity?
Anyway...
So it was nearly 80 degrees here on Sunday, and today we got a foot of snow in Creve Coeur. They didn't even bother to plough our apartment's lot, so I (and several other motorists) got stuck in the snow trying to park. So get this: these three young guys who were random residents (sheerly out of good will) were helping to shovel and get everyone out of the snow. So two of them pushed my car while the other drove. I fell flat on my ass - not once, but twice in front of them. It was so much fun - I was laughing so hard. Then the one who was driving started skidding and lost control, and the car started coming toward me....at only a few mph, but still scary, and I screamed. The whole ordeal was both fun and hilarious.
But okay, maybe people are just nice to my face. What do they REALLY think about Jews? My guess is: they don't. I simply don't think it's any more part of their lives than thinking about Baptists is part of my life.
I still believe this, but today Mark experienced an anti-Semitic incident for the first time. Part of his job (thankfully, a small part) is to handle customer service. Mark's boss has a Jewish last name, and when an angry customer couldn't get a refund, he called Mark and yelled and used anti-Semitic phrases.
Mark was really upset by it. It's very unfortunate that these sentiments still exist in our country, even if in small numbers. Have any of you experienced open hostility due to your race or ethnicity?
Anyway...
So it was nearly 80 degrees here on Sunday, and today we got a foot of snow in Creve Coeur. They didn't even bother to plough our apartment's lot, so I (and several other motorists) got stuck in the snow trying to park. So get this: these three young guys who were random residents (sheerly out of good will) were helping to shovel and get everyone out of the snow. So two of them pushed my car while the other drove. I fell flat on my ass - not once, but twice in front of them. It was so much fun - I was laughing so hard. Then the one who was driving started skidding and lost control, and the car started coming toward me....at only a few mph, but still scary, and I screamed. The whole ordeal was both fun and hilarious.