Ignore them, they will just go away (a.k.a. stick your head in the sand)

I am Jewish.

I have no interest in religion. I personally think it is one of the worse inventions that came out of the mind of man. But I was raised in the Jewish tradition, and it is part of my history, a history of which I am NOT ashamed.

Because of this simple fact, certain people hate me.

When I was a child, there were some in my neighborhood who would physically attack me, simply because I was Jewish. Wise minds, believers in compassion, would tell me to ignore them, they will just go away.

So I ignored them, until the next time they jumped me, beat me, screaming nonsense like “You killed Jesus!”.

“Ignore them, they will just go away.”

So I ignored them, until one threw a rock at me, hitting me in the skull giving a scar that I still bear today.

“Ignore them, they will just go away.”

So I ignored them, until the rock thrower’s mother attacked MY mother, while his brother held a knife to my throat saying “I will kill you if you do anything to help her.”

“Ignore them, they will just go away.”

So I ignored them, until the knife wielder picked a fight with me in the school yard, calling me kike. I stood my ground, with a fellow Jewish boy willing to defend. The principle pulls US into the office. “Stay away from him, he is psychotic.” As far as I know, nothing was done to him.

“Ignore them, they will just go away.”

So I ignored them, until the same psycho, decided to light my shirt on fire in the middle of homeroom in high school.

“Ignore them, they will just go away.”

So I ignored them. Twenty plus years later, a young man goes on a killing spree in the name of ethnic cleansing or some such nonsense. He is the son of the boy who did all those things to me.

“Ignore them, they will just go away.”

Guess what folks. We’ve been ignoring them for over 40 years. They have NOT gone away. Maybe it is time we STOP ignoring them, and actually DO SOMETHING.