Thursday, June 12, 2008

advice please!

After that last post I ended up calling my mom. And crying hysterically. Which was horribly embarrassing for both parties because my family doesn't really cry.

I'm seriously considering going home. Well, not "home" to LA, but back to the United States. Which is home enough. To go back to school.

Reasons for considering going home:
-I'd get to finish a degree on time or close to on time.
-No matter where I am in the U.S. I always would have at least one close family member within 1000 miles. Right now I'm 5000 miles from one.
-I have the correct fucking accent in the US.
-No language barrier
-No required army service. This is a pro and a con. It would have been cool, but my dad did bring upt he very legit point that I am TERRIBLE when it comes to respecting authority. He cited all the times I've told teachers off in high school.....
-I was born and raised there, as has been my family for generations. I actually feel like I have claim to the land and to the culture and to the history, rather than some distant biblical connection. And, to be fair, I only have the Biblical Claim through ONE side of the family...
-My parents would buy me a car if I went back to college in the US. (Okay, i know that's a terrible reason to come home, but I just thought it was cool....)
-My parents also promised to take me to a Brad Paisley concert if I came home. (THAT is a GREAT reason to come home!!!!!)
-I don't feel Jewish enough. I've never felt less Jewish in my entire life than I feel in Israel. I feel like such a half Jew.

Basically, my complaint is that I feel like somewhere and somehow at some time someone brainwashed me into thinking the US wasn't my country. Yes, it is my fucking country. Israel is not my country. I lived in the US for 19 years of my life, and I only just saw Israel for the first time half a year ago. How is Israel more "my country" than the US? This is what I don't understand. Maybe if I was raised religious and maybe if both sides of my family were Jewish, maybe THEN I'd feel like a guest in the US. But I'm not a guest in the US. I'm at least HALF of a native, maybe a full native. In Israel though I'm just some immigrant. In Israel I feel like I'm not Jewish enough because I can only remember doing a single family Passover seder, but I can remember celebrating Christmas together every year. I missed Christmas with my family this past year because I was in Israel on birthright--and I felt sad. I missed Christmas. No, I'm not Christian and no I don't believe in Jesus, but at the same time I'm extremely American and so Christmas sort of is an American holiday as well.... I don't know.



Reasons for staying:
-My returning to the US will only make it harder for any potential children of mine to leave the US and for them to not assimilate to Christian culture.
-Staying increases my street cred
-I can become fluent in a language other than English.
-Most of all, I'd just feel so much like I simply gave up. I hate giving up, but I don't want to fuck up my life and be miserable and lonely and without family for the rest of my life just cos i'm too fucking stubborn to give up.

Right now, going home seems like an ideal fucking situation!

Advice please?

1 comment:

Abraham said...

do what feels right right now.

as long as israel doesn't give back to golan, she's not going anywhere. Maybe this wasn't the right time, and it's ok to accept that and to try again when/if you feel the need to again.

I'll respect you no matter what.

love,
me

pffawase

p.s. thanks for the birthday mention.