Sometimes in my life I have found some incredible animosities, both personally and professionally and this past Friday was no exception. I have begun to explore my religious roots and I’m finding that because I am who I am, which is a quite sensitive person among other qualities, I find that I am in it for the long haul. And having said that, I felt like an outcast as I sported my colorful hand-knit yarmulke for the first time upon my head to work; of course there were some snide remarks like; “Oh, so that’s the infamous yarmulke, eh?” to rude stares and whispers whenever I passed their desks or departments.
I often wonder why certain religious artifacts are regularly accepted by society and others aren’t. I mean it seems to be perfectly okay for the three major religious groups of Catholic, Jewish & Muslim to do what they feel without being questioned as long as it’s normal in the normal sense of reality.
But you know it’s not; not by a long shot. People in
These are the same people who go around judging what others do, while expecting themselves not to be judged. How so very hypocritical of them. It is with that thought that I will leave you with as I present this prose-poem on my experience in my own home territory.
A word to the wise; I will continue until further notice to wear my yarmulke on Fridays until I feel comfortable enough to wear it on other days, so for those of you who I know personally have a problem with it or choose to openly criticism me, remember that instant karma strikes back hard!
Funny Little Hat
I am shunned in my workplace like a blacklisted man in
For speaking what my soul desires
Jabbed with indifferences to indifferent to notice what I am about
Injustice bleeds me dry
Every time I ask to be recognized or called upon
But you know, they never notice and they greet me with their tokenisms
And their strangeness
Because they fail to comprehend that I understand their ignorance too.
If crosses were banned from wearing around necks, would the Catholics complain?
If head coverings were banned, would the Muslims complain?
If gospel, R & B, rap & hip-hop music were banned from listening to at individuals’ desks, would the Afro-Americans complain?
If the frightened ones were dragged from out of the closet, would they complain?
So, when I chose a new flight path that gives me new found hope, why do my friends blind their eyes and not look at me as if I were some kind of sideshow freak in a Brooklyn,
It’s a conspiracy I tell you man, it’s a conspiracy!
Don’t ask, don’t tell and to tell you the truth, if I weren’t at all Jewish,
I’d probably blame it all on them too!
