True Religion

We spent the last few days in New York soaking up all that New York has to offer. At least my idea of what it has to offer. Incredible restaurants, wonderful jazz, a great and fascinating history which I find more fascinating than any concocted up by Cecil B. DeMille. After spending a lovely morning touring historic Harlem, my wife and I decided to retreat to our apartment to rest up before going out for our nightly culinary extravaganza. As we ascended from our subway stop, we were greeted by the throaty cheers emanating from maybe 10,000 screaming Hasids dressed in their finest Shabbat attire. They were festooned in black satin top cloaks, sumptuous mink hats and some wearing knickers. They were whipped up in an absolute frenzy. A religious frenzy that sounded like what must have been the sound of crazed Nazis at a Nuremburg rally! What were they protesting? A leaflet was thrust into my hands which explained why they were there. They believe that the state of Israel should be "dismantled" because it is a secular state that conflicts with the teachings of the Torah. They were also demonstrating against the "desecration" of ancient Jewish graves by Israeli archaeologists. We safely maneuvered around the throng and as I turned to her said something like, "What crazy Motherf*****s! Religion! The opiate of the masses!" All evening we discussed how our "secular" America has been hijacked. Is this what it means to live in America today in the 21st century? Politicians who know they can twist the truth and sell a war to us on a premise that we are bringing our democracy to a nation that doesn't want it?. Politicians that can call into question the patriotism and "faith" of those who oppose the judicial nominees who favor setting public policy based on a book of stories of magic and miracles? What is the nature of religion in America today? How has religion and politics, an unlikely pair of bedfellows I thought, been able to transform this country of ours? The weirdness continued when we had to bring a pair of jeans back to Barney's on Madison Avenue. As my wife was returning the jeans, I saw a display for a rack of women's jeans. The name of the jeans?... "True Religion"! And they cost $190 a pair! What is the true religion of America? Maybe being able to buy a pair of jeans for $190 a pop. Ya gotta love it. How silly. But then I thought about my own bit of good fortune. Am I not every bit as economically gluttinous as the next guy? How far do I go to insure that the rest of my fellow Earthlings have their own piece of the pie? If being able to own a pair of $190 jeans is the "True Religion" of America, then am I a congregant? Does my own cynacism about our material/religious society smack of a bit of hypocracy on my part? .....I wondered to myself, "Do they make men's jeans? How would they look on me?"