Thursday, August 11, 2011

Not Really Duggaring

I've kind of said this repeatedly, but I haven't had much to say about the Duggars lately and the big reason is: I don't get to watch the show anymore. We don't have cable/satellite and TLC doesn't post the shows on their site. And no, I'm not surfing through You Tube hunting for the episodes, because frankly I'm not THAT desperate to watch them. I've noticed the past season or so in what I have seen that they all seem to be the same. Nothing new, nothing interesting---same old, same old.

Part of it is that I have changed as well, as you may have seen from the new picture on the blog. No longer covering my hair and no longer wearing long skirts. Hello legs! We aren't attending an Orthodox temple anymore and have gone in a more Reform direction in our Judaism only because of where we live and what's available for our daughter. I was also raised Reform while my husband was raised Orthodox we're sort of meeting in the middle--where the Jews are attending en masse.

My choice to uncover my hair was actually a subconscious one that I noticed when we got back from our month in Israel. One day I realized it wasn't covered when I was out running errands and didn't think about why. When I really did consider it, other than I'd just rushed out and forgotten, it had to do with how I was perceived while we were in Israel. "Oh you're Orthodox, judging by the way you dress, so you'll want to live in this neighbourhood...." (we were on our pilot trip for making Aliyah--emigration)....and that just bothered me. No, we'll pick a neighbourhood based on price, if it's close to amenities, school, job, transportation, etc. We're all Jews here, do we still have to sub-divide ourselves up? Apparently so.

I guess it's like that for Christians too. Someone told me there are 33,000 different denominations of Christian belief systems. You don't just believe that Christ died for your sins, apparently it's how he died and who did it and how you go about spreading the word and living the gospel? No idea. Clearly Christianity isn't all equal. But then what religions are--Muslims aren't either, you have Suni, Sufi, Shi'a...no one ever agrees do they?

As I've also said I have other projects going on. My novel is in it's second edit (w00 h00) and almost ready for it's second cold read. We're getting ready to put our daughter into Hebrew School, both my husband and I have been dealing with various and assorted illnesses that while his are nearly fatal mine are merely annoying. So that's why the blog seems to have gone by the wayside.

Truth be told I think I've said all I can say about them. As they continue on I think they are losing some of their credibility for me and their genuineness. Their young children aren't learning the lessons in thrift their older children learned because they don't have to be as thrifty as they once were. And that's great--they are making a good living, but their kids are losing out on those budgetary lessons that are necessary because when those younger kids grow up and move out they'll need them--they won't be rich like mommy and daddy, unless of course there are savings accounts being set up for them. But I still think Jim Bob and Michelle should be passing down those lessons they keep teaching us.

I also think the longer the older children stay living at home with the smaller children in the same rooms....is weird. I don't care if they say they like it. It's weird. I don't believe at all that they are forbidden to go to college, I think they are more interested in what's best for the family's TV show and don't want to a spectacle at their local college. Would you want everyone staring at you in class because you're on TV? Kind of ruins the experience for you.

So there you have it.