I remember my time as a Christian; the talk I would hear about living your life in a godly way so that you can “give witness.”  I think there’s a whole lot of truth to those words.  In this day and age of “relative” values, there need to be people who live by the better aspects of their belief systems.  And, in this respect, it is giving witness to what you believe in.

No matter who you are, represent your people well.

I had a customer take notice of my Star of David necklace and he said, “That’s a Star of David.”  I said, “Yes it is.  Why?”  He just smirked at me and went on his way.  While he didn’t cause any pain to me or to himself, he left in his wake a flurry of questions. The first question being, why the strange response to a necklace? What was it about seeing a Star of David that evoked a smirk? Was he surprised to see it being worn in the heart of the Hill Country? Shock at seeing it worn by a convenience store employee? For the hundreds of crosses that pass through a day where I work, I imagine a Star of David would cause excitement for me.  Just as meeting a customer the other night who was from Iowa did also.

But back to the fair gentleman... did he have a predisposition to dislike Jews because of religious acrimony?  This wouldn’t be surprising as the world’s “major” religions have the tendency to tiptoe around one another, unless they are blasting one another as not being the truth.

Later that night, another customer came through and said the same, “That’s a Star of David” line.  I said, “Yes, I’m Jewish”. And he said, “That’s cool, everybody has a right to live.”  A right to live????

This response was equally interesting and I was probably overly sensitive after watching Boy in the Striped Pajamas with my step-daughter the previous evening.  Folks, watch that movie if you haven’t; it’s a sad flick, but needs to be seen. It’s about the Holocaust. So I guess having the right to live should be seen as a positive thing.

Through all this, and no matter where I go in life, it’s important to me to try my hardest at everything I do... give it all I’ve got. But it’s also important, that in doing so, I represent the Jewish people well. What happens when you identify with a group of people is you become a representative of the people.  So, no matter who you are, represent yourself and your “people” well!