Matt+Lieberman+2014

Matt Lieberman __Being a Jew on Christmas__

Being Jewish on Christmas is quite sad and depressing. While all of my friends are full of glee and getting presents, my family and I are searching for something to do to occupy our time. The usual routine is to see a movie and go out for chinese food after because these are the only things that are open on the holiday. So this year my family and I, along with another Jewish family, continued the routine. The movie we saw, although confusing at times, was somewhat intriguing. As I sat in the movie theater and looked around me, I thought to myself, most likely every single person in this movie theater right now is Jewish. This was interesting to me because there is a very small population of Jews and I have never seen that many gathered together at once at an event other than temple. After the movie we went out to a chinese restaurant like planned. On a side note this winter break was very eventful for me, primarily because I received my license along with a car. I received my license only two days before Christmas, so at this point driving was still a fairly new experience for me. After the movie I decided to drive my friend and I to the restaurant. On the way there I noticed a car directly in front of me had swerved to the side of the road and I saw a deer limp in front of it and scamper away. So the best conclusion I could make was that the car had hit the deer. I thought to myself that if I was in that cars place I would have most likely hit the deer as well, which would have probably ruined my newly received car and render it immobile for the remainder of break. Needless to say that I am very thankful I did not hit the deer. The chinese food was delicious and I had a great time at dinner but despite all the fun I had on this day, Christmas still depresses me. For me it is just December 25, simply a day, it has no further meaning. It is sad that in my lifetime I may never get to celebrate it and undergo the full experience that my peers get to. You might think to yourself that at least there is Hanukah to celebrate, but in reality this is no where near an equal substitute. Although I enjoy it because I still receive gifts, it just does not have that feel and emotion to it that Christmas has. This year was especially tough due to the fact that Hanukah fell so early this year, around Thanksgiving time, so there was really no special vibe to it. I truly can not complain about my dismay, because this winter break was the best one of my life that i have experienced thus far. This was due to the fact that I received my license. I feel like I have received ultimate freedom, so far it has given me a great deal of happiness. I feel the thing that I am most happy about is that I finally got the drivers test over with after stressing heavily over it. To conclude its tough being a Jew on Christmas but friends and family make it enjoyable.