I live in what some would refer to as Pleasantville. Moderately big houses (although most of them are apartments) a hunk of school, two tremendously large Catholic churches, a pillar bridge and this one particular hill where all the rich folk tend to frolic. An okay town to any passer-by, yet underneath it all, the rich kids get drunk, the poor kids do the same, the poor kids go to jail, the rich kids can do no wrong. There is literally a wrong side of the tracks and although it bothers me, that's not the point to my rant. (I personally live in a neutral area. That's fun.) But another thing which I have noticed since moving here, is that my classmates have no idea that other people exist. Our minority includes a kid who's 1/16 Cuban, two almost Puerto Raccoons and one girl who is adopted and had to move to our town because everyone was so racist at her old school. Yippee. We also have four Jewish kids, two of them include my brother and I, his girlfriend (a coincidence) and the meanest teacher in existence who gave a kid a detention for telling her to have a merry Christmas. Now, let me just add that my brother has chosen to ignore his Judaism, his girlfriend is quasi, and I have more along the lines of atheist beliefs, but because I want to have some sort of minority in me, have decided to tell people that I'm Jewish. Only my circle of friends have any idea that, Jesus Clooney Frog, how could it happen, nooooooo, I'm not Christian! and even when I told them that no, I wasn't baptized, they looked at me like I had twelve stomachs, spoke German and had a brain made from a can of spam. (I thought that this was hilarious and taunt them whenever I get the chance. Unfortunately, they still don't understand.)
I would also like to tell you that my town is VERY Christian. The first day that we moved here a little kid came up to my brother and said, "are your parents divorced?" (he politely nodded his head,) "you're going to HELL!" That's how religious they all are. (We all got a real kick out of that one. My brother and I already know that by any religious or other standard, we should already be burning in eternal flames. That's still not the point of my rant, though.)
So, I was sitting outside the lunch room one day when this really annoying kid came up with a look of absolute terror. She took no time at all in telling us that ahhhhhhhh, Mrs. Smith is , ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, JEWISH! How could it be, alert the media! Quick, fire exit, quick! NOOOOOO, RAPE! KIDNAP! MURDER! Yet while I choked down laughter (she still looked completely petrified) my friends kept glancing up to me with this nervously pathetic look. What, did they think that I couldn't handle her stupidity? I already have to deal with their homophobia strong enough to take out Asia, did they think that I would flip out, or what? While it was funny, my dear lord, please, some one kill me. (I would also like to add that one of my friends didn't believe that Judaism was a word. Just kill me now.)
Furthermore, while the "Judaism isn't a word" girl and I were playing Boggle, for goodness sake, and the word Jew was in there, I called it off and she said, with a blushing face, that she thought that that was a name. Yah, and American cheese will cure cancer.
This is just another reason why I don't like my classmates/town/friends/school. If you don't understand why, I'll trade towns with you. Please?
Update: I've just had the honor of being stalked because I'm Jewish! Cool, huh, No, believe me, it's really not. You see, I was innocently in the locker room after gym getting ready for luck, fair enough,, and I don't even remember what we were talking about, but I simply stated that I was Jewish. I didn't think that it was all that crued of a statement, but from out of nowhere this girl Stacy flips around and yells, "you're Jewish!!!" From there on it was just disturbing.
"Do you where one of those cute little hats?"
Hmmm, does it look like there's anything on my head?
"Oh, this is so cool, I've never met a Jewish person before! Do you celebrate Christmas?"
"Uh, kind of."
"Oh, that is so cool, you're awesome."
What? This girl has hardly noticed my existence, and in a class of 25 that's relatively difficult, but now she's saying that I 'm awesome? Great. The only reason I'm liked is because of my religion. Just great. So, I quietly slipped into the lunch room, yet she found another way to follow me. Slipping next to me in the lunch room, she continued,
"So, what exactly is your religion about?"
I was going to say that we sacrificed flying fish to make the moon rise, but instead I just looked at her and smiled.
"No, I'm serious. I've never met a Jew before. What is your religion about?"
It was at this time that the 'Mrs. Smith is a Jew Girl' stepped up, and, ah, surprise surprise, said, "Mrs. Smith is a Jew!" (Remember that this is the following year, and she actually remembered it all from five months ago.) Stacy gasped, and said,
"Oh, you share something with Mrs. Smith!"
Ooooh, you're a bright one. Looks like you have met a Jew before. Oh, this is my favorite part.
"So, like how long have you been Jewish?"
Doh. Oh, the world makes me laugh. I really couldn't stop giggling. Then this kid behind me looked up and said, "just ignore her." I think that's funny because I'm sure he says the same things to someone who's being beaten up. Yeah.
So, from this point on, I'm 'awesome' in that incredibly disturbing child's book of love. This frightens me, mostly because it's just not right that she's now offering to walk home with me, wishes me luck before tests, and jumps up when I'm at the water fountain, all because I'm not Christian. Now, is it just me, or is that a bit of a change? After a few thousand years, I'm not being persecuted because I'm a Jew, I'm being thanked! Well, it's interesting anyway.