How could I have known?

By Lauren Belcher
Weekly Blog
Word Count: 554 words

I never thought an assignment could change my life.

Oh, but it has.

My literary journal assignment has forced me to talk to religious figures on a regular basis. I am not a religious person. If I'm being honest, I actually don't believe in any of it. But, the assignment's purpose is to make us very uncomfortable and to bring us out of our comfort zone.

My assignment is to find out what it's like to be Jewish in a predominately Christian community like St. Augustine. Sounds easy enough, right?

I started my search by punching "rabbi 32084" into Google. Bam! Rabbi one, two and three. "This assignment is going to be easy," I thought.

I called all three Rabbis and got a contact list together, then I found a few local Jewish residents and was quite content with myself.

For someone who had to change topics twice, getting these contacts came pretty easily for me.

Rabbi number one, Mr. Samuel Cywiak was first on my list. His synagogue is right in downtown Lincolnville so I went there to meet up with him. Within seconds of meeting Rabbi Cywiak, I realized that my topic was NOT an easy one. More like the exact opposite.

Cywiak is 90 years old. When I first met him, I looked into his eyes and saw the kindest eyes I've ever seen. But, they had a deep pain in them that I did not yet, and still can't, understand. He is an orthodox Jew and a Holocaust survivor. We sat and talked for over an hour about his life and God.

I left that day feeling like a different person. It was the hardest interview I've ever done for so many reasons. I was in a funk for several days.

I don't understand faith. Especially blind faith. To just put your heart and soul into a belief that seems so logically impossible has always bewildered me. How could this man, who has seen the worst in a human being still go home and pray to a God? Or wait for a Messiah?

I understood it far more after I talked to Jerry Kass. Kass is a Jewish resident of St. Augustine. He moved here in 1930 and has lived across the street from the college, which was then still a hotel, ever since.

Just when I thought this could be a semi-normal conversation he hit me with it, just like the Rabbi. He's 95-years-old. His wife, of 67 years, just passed away not six months ago. That was when I realized that I was talking to a heartbroken man who felt he had not much more to live for. But he still had that faith. Even though he has lost everything and now sits alone on his porch day in and day out, he still believes. He's just waiting for the Messiah patiently, or for his God to take him home.

I still don't understand it, and I still don't believe in it myself, but I sure do have a new-found respect for religious people. You will never hear me try to talk someone out of their religion like I would before. If that is what people need to get on in this terrible life, then more power to them. Even if it is a higher one than mine.

SPJ winners

Congratulations to Haley Walker and Philip Mansfield for winning awards at the SPJ conference.

You can find their literary journal stories here:
Haley Walker
Philip Mansfield

Great job guys!
Dr. Sarkio said the pressure is on our COM class now! thanks a lot guys haha