It amazes me how much Americans like to categorize. I wonder if it comes from the need to segregate or the need to belong. The idea of fitting into a compartment of some category pisses me off.
When I fist came to the US, I went to a campus Jewish organization that made me fill out an application. A section asked me what kind of Jew I was. Up until that moment, I didn’t even know that there were different kinds of Jews. In Turkey, I always knew myself as Jewish. Just Jewish. Isn’t that enough of a category? Why do they need to break it down more?
I am only comfortable with a few categories. Human. Female. Turkish. Jewish. That’s about it. I’m not willing to go any deeper and I challenge you to give me a sound reason as to why I should.
Leave a Reply