Happy Rosh Hashanah!

This message comes to you from a Jew who doesn’t go to temple, keep kosher, deliberately seek out the company of other Jews, and who doesn’t agree with most of what Israel has done. Despite all this, am I proud to be a Jew? You bet. Every human should be proud of the vast acievements that members of their geographic area of birth/ethnicity/race/religion has accomplished since humans began to walk the face of the earth.

It’s something we forget, when we allow ourselves to believe that our geographic area of birth/ethnicity/race/religion is superior to any other. There is simply no proof of that. If anything, the fact that we are all walking around proves that we are all equally resilient. And the line that connects us to the beginning point is filled with the same number of astonishing discoveries, stuptifying failures, atrocious acts against others and culture that has rocked the world.

And, if one believes that their geographic area of birth/ethnicity/race/religion is one that God favors above all others, I have a bridge to sell you. Whatever God is, man with beard/nature/science/The Mother, it is neutral. Otherwise, it would be far too distracted deciding which country at war should win, which major league football team should beat the other team, which sick person should survive and which poor slob should win the lottery, to actually run the planet.

Give God a break, along with persons of every other geographic area of birth/ethnicity/race/religion. I’m guessing that we are all slogging along, trying to survive. Each of us has a huge issue, whether it be living surrounded by violence, having a loved one dealing with drug or alcohol addiction, being convinced that we will lose our minds because we have a leader who is a criminal and narcessist, being convinced we will lose our minds because many people don’t realize how great and godlike our leader is, being aware of the fact that people hate us because of the color of our skin or our sexuality or our gender, accepting the fact that a loved one is dying, making it through each day without enough money or emotional support. If you say that you cannot relate to any of these categories, then I say you aren’t paying attention.

So Happy Rosh Hashanah. Happy New Year. Happy New Beginning. Happy Stand Up Tall and be proud of your geographic area of birth/etchnicity/race/religion or whatever tags you were born with or have chosen to assign to yourselves. Just don’t tell yourself that your whatever is better than anyone else’s whatever. Be happy we are all in this together. If we survive, it will be because of that.