Rant #3,233: What I Am

Today, I get an MRI on my bad left leg, all.in preparation for my upcoming surgery on Wednesday.

I had another restless sleep, just a few hours of dozing off and nothing more.

But I guess I am holding up as good as I could be under the circumstances.

When I went to the pre-opp session, I was asked a variety of medical-related questions about my health background, but one of the questions i was asked had absolutely nothing to do with my health.

I was asked my religion.

This is a Catholic hospital, and I guess that they feel they have a right to ask such a question, as they prefaced it by stating, "You do not have to say if you do not want to," but honestly, why wouldn't I tell them?

I told them I was Jewish, and we moved onto the next questions, which were much more important in the grand scheme of things.

That happened during the initial phase of the pre-op, but it then came up again later, when the nurse was taking down my information.

"You don't have to tell us, but do you need special accommodations for your religion?" she asked, and again, I told her I was Jewish, but no special accommodations were needed.

(I mean, I am not going to light Shabbos candles or need kosher food in the relatively short time I will be there.)

Again, I guess it is standard procedure to ask a patient's religion in a Catholic hospital, but I can't figure out why this question is being asked in the first place.

If this was a Jewish hospital, would the same question about religion be asked?

I have no idea.

And in these troubled times we live in, where anti-Semitic incidents continue to spiral out of control and upward, why wouldn't I tell the hospital that I was Jewish?

Will I not put up a menorah in the front window of our new residence when it is Hannukah?

Will I be hesitant to reveal my religion to people because I am scared of retribution?

I am not scared, not scared at all of any backlash for being what I am.

And if anyone has anything to say about it, that is their problem, not mine.

I am Jewish, I am proud of that fact, and whether you ask me about it in a hospital or in passing conversation, it is not something that I am ever going to hide or lie about.

If you are hiding who you are, you are playing into the hands of those who want to rid the earth of you---

And why would I ever want to do that?

(And on a much lesser note, if you are wondering why I am not on Facebook at all, the social media network police did not like my post yesterday, stating it violated their rules, so they gave me six days for the violation. 

Please read what I wrote yesterday right here below today's Rant. If you can explain to me how I violated their rules with this post--or any post I have put up there during the past two months--please let me know, because I am completely dumbfounded by all of this.

And yes, someone did bring up that perhaps I have been targeted by someone because I am Jewish, and in today's world, I can't discount such a possibility.)

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.