Polished+Journal+2

Geoffrey N     7-A English May 20, 2008 ** Polished Journal #2  ** Throughout my life, I have been in many situations where I have felt much different than the people around me. For instance, I play baseball with many kids who are Christian and they go to school together. This makes me feel weird around them sometimes. A big time where I felt really different from the people around me was when I went to camp High Harbor. High Harbor is a YMCA camp, and about 95% of the campers were Christian. Although I was with some of my friends, I wanted to meet other people in my cabin and make friends with them. Our cabin prayed every night, and I didn’t know any of the prayers. I felt very awkward. Many of the campers asked me questions like “Why aren’t you singing” and “How come you don’t know this song?” It was difficult for me to answer, but I simply said “I’m Jewish, and I don’t know these songs.” I felt really different from some of the campers, but other campers I really liked. I was friendly with some of the campers, and we had a lot in common. They wanted to learn about Judaism, and I wanted to learn about Christianity. The way I became friends with the campers was by being myself, I was social, friendly, funny, and nice. The campers enjoyed having me, and I really wouldn’t want to change anything about it. The only thing I would change is that I really wanted to know the prayers and songs. I enjoyed being with different people because it gives me diversity in my life. If you are in a position similar to mine you should be yourself, be friendly, be social, and be kind. Overall, I enjoyed being at a YMCA camp a lot, and I don’t mind being with different types of people.