My Weekend With Jesus

This past weekend I attended a leadership retreat for the Greek council leaders at my University. Being on the Panhellenic council, I hopped on the bus, that left an hour late, and was on my way to the retreat site along with about 30 other students. Upon arriving, the camp grounds looked like…well, camp grounds. Just your typical NY, old school cabins, scenery, etc. The lake was beautiful, though. Before I stepped off the bus I said to my supervisor “I hope they don’t try and convert me to Catholicism.” He laughed. I hope he knew I was joking–about the conversion part…I knew no one would try and do it, but I like being Jewish…just sayin’. After being greeted by a sea of crosses, we arrived at our bunk to find the word JESUS plastered above each interior door. That wasn’t all, though, because there was a surprise waiting for me once I got to the room I was staying in. For on the window of the door to the room was a curtain. And on this curtain was “I <3 Jesus” printed hundreds of times in different directions. Now I know which fabric swatch I should have used to make that pillow in 6th grade home-ec. Darn.

Later we went into the dining hall where we found more crosses, as we sat at a table looking over the lake-side, outdoor chapel with a giant wooden cross surrounded by wooden benches. Then there were some more crosses. Eventually we all picked up and switched cabins to one closer to the location of the activities we would be participating in. No JESUS or Jesus curtains hanging in this cabin, just a big ol’ cross situated on top of the cabin itself. But this one was much closer to the outdoor chapel so don’t you worry, I had a nice view of the wooden cross whenever I needed to feel the power of Christ. Oh, and there was a big Bible on the shelf in each and every room. The best part, to me, was when I would go into the bathroom there was, posted on the mirror, a placard with a prayer to say while “using the gift of water.” I found this fascinating. Yes, I know water is a limited resource and we often take it for granted, but I’ve never thought to pray for it. Perhaps I will start.

 

If you’re reading this you may think I have a problem with Jesus and the truth is I do not. He was once a member of the same tribe I belong to–the Jews–so I definitely don’t hate on him. But as a Jew I simply felt odd being surrounded by crosses and the word Jesus everywhere possible. While the retreat had nothing to do with religion, I felt myself feeling awkward because of what surrounded me. I didn’t know what to make of it all so I pretty much just kept talking about it–constantly. That didn’t necessarily make me feel any better about the situation, but I guess it helped me to cope. I know I probably sound like an idiot, but how would you feel if you were put in a place for 24 hours with symbols and words representing a religion you do not practice or believe in?

 

When all was said and done I got a lot out of the 24 hours I spent on the retreat. I learned to not judge a person based solely on appearance and that everyone is equal. I also learned that despite what our ancestors may have struggled with, we, youth of the present, have been awarded with such incredible opportunities in life and should not take any of them for granted.

 

 

East Coast Quake

Today was a day that will always be remembered as the day the Earth kind of stood still. For today, the East Coast experienced a 5.9 earthquake. To be exact, the quake originated in Virginia and was felt in various states such as New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. When the quake hit, I happened to be sitting in a hair salon getting my hair did. My hairdresser didn’t feel it, but I did. First the chair started shaking and I mentioned “something is shaking” to which my hairdresser replied “It’s the vent. Sometime’s it takes a few minutes but it will stop.” But then I noticed the mirrors were shaking and that’s when the women in the back room yelled out “the room is shaking!” and that’s when my friend who works in Washington, DC texted me “EARTHQUAKE.” This is when I knew what I was feeling wasn’t just native to New York. So I took to Twitter, naturally, and found out more information in mere seconds than I could have by watching the news for 20 minutes. Friends of mine from various different states commented on the shaking they felt which indicated that it was felt in numerous states up and down the East Coast. Then, the jokes began. There were plenty about the debt ceiling physically collapsing because of the quake as well as pictures of the “devastating aftermath” that just had a lawn chair lying on the ground. I laughed…a lot. The one thing that angered me about this whole earthquake business was that everyone in New York was all like “oh snap! NY had a 5.9 quake! OMG!” well, New Yorker, no…no we didn’t have a 5.9 quake. You see, Virginia had a 5.9 earthquake…we just felt it here in New York. Come on! We’ve already got the best pizza, cheesecake, hot dogs and public transportation, let’s not hog something that rightfully belongs to a different state!

Now, for those of you who didn’t experience this little milkshake of a quake, it went a little something like this:

“Hey, I think the chair is shaking.”

“Yeah. That’s weird.”

“Maybe a train is passing.”

“Must have.”

And that was it. The way I would describe the brief shaking that lasted all of 15-3o seconds in NY was like the experience you get when you’re sitting in your car, stopped in a turning lane as all of the other cars plow past your vehicle and there’s that little WOOSH feeling. Either that or it’s the brief, subtle shaking your house has when you life a few blocks away from a train station. So, it wasn’t anything life-threatening–thank goodness–around these parts, but it caused some minor damage in certain areas. A friend of mine who lives in Virginia told me a few pictures fell off her wall and her glass of water spilled over on her nightstand. Nothing that a few nails and a paper towel can’t fix. I’m hoping no one had any damage greater than that, and at the moment no casualties have been reported.

Then there’s all of these snooty Californian earthquake connoisseurs with their noses in the air saying (in a french, wine country accent) “zis was no earfquake. Here in Cali-for-nnnia we have zee biggest earfquakes you will ever zee or feel. They shake le grapes and make our wine go bad.” And then the East Coast responds with, if you had snow you’d build underground shelters. We’re not used to quakes! We don’t have earthquake safety instructions glued to the hotel bathroom mirrors–we have emergency snow routes.

Hallelujah!

The New York Mets have won 4 in a row! That’s amazing…for them! Let’s see how long they can keep this up, I hope it’s at least until they make their way into 2nd place! 

The Mets play Colorado again tomorrow night, will YOU be watching? 

“‘Cause it’s root, root, root for the home team.”