What's a Matter wit Jew?

I had to turn in my laptop for some warranty work. It was having some problems with the connection to the powersource. So, for the next 2 weeks, blogging may be a little slow. It all depends on whether or not I can fight with Zelda to get access to the desktop. Also, how long of a break I can get between classes and patients. Anyways, on to my next post.

I don't remember when it was. But, when I first learned about World War II and the persecutions of the Jews, I had no idea what a Jew was. I kept asking everyone, "What's a Jew?" No one could give me a straight answer. A typical conversation went like this:

J: "What's a Jew?"

Answer: "What do you mean?"

J: "I mean, what's a Jew? How are they different?"

A: "Well, they're a type of people with a different religion and sort of a different race."

J: "What do you mean sort of?"

A: "It's hard to explain."

J: "So, they're a different race with a different religion."

A: "Sort of."

As you can see, this wasn't helping me understand what was going on. Eventually, we were shown a movie in class called "Escape from Sobibor". It was about an escape attempt by Jews and others held at a German concentration camp during WWII. I remember how during the movie, I asked a friend of mine. "Where are the Jews?" He answered, "See all those people who aren't wearing army uniforms and aren't carrying guns? Those are Jews."

I sat back. I can only imagine the confused look on my face. I remember the next feeling extremely well. I thought to myself, they're white. How can anyone say that they're a different race? They looked just like the typical European white folks that I see on TV.

Now, all I do is look back and laugh.