>>>>>>>>As far as adults knowing where (sic) the line gets crossed, that's not for you to decide.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I should give you the name of the last person who made the mistake of telling a member of my family they'd burn in hell for not being Christian. That person would tell you differently. <s>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>But aren't you comforted to know that if there is some kind eternal after-life you won't have to spend it with those people ? <bg>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>( I must lead a very sheltered life because I run into remarkably few people who've confronted me in the way you describe - though I'm pretty sure a lot of people have thought they have pretty much figured out what is in store for me <s>)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I have run into a few of those who, nicely, told me that yes, I'd burn for being Jewish. More commonly, I've run into people who simply didn't understand what my being Jewish meant. "But surely, you have a Christmas tree." "But you must have Christmas dinner." etc., etc. The idea that there was anyone who truly doesn't celebrate Christmas seems terribly upsetting to some.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I've been the first Jew that quite a people have met.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Hardly the first for me, but a very nice one ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>>Some of you know Tamar has been tending to me from afar for nearly three years now, since my first suicide attempt. She emails or calls me every Tuesday. It's on her Outlook calendar ;-) Through the loss of parents, children leaving home, one getting married, all kinds of things, I hear from her every Tuesday. At worst a day late, for which she actually apologizes. I know I aggravate her by not always taking her excellent advice. Tamar, you are a saint.
>>>>>
>>>>>Mike
>>>
>>>>
>>>>"Tamar, you are a saint." very droll :-) That should be a tzadik shouldn't it
>>>
>>>
>>>I was going to mention that while multiple mitzvahs may be encouraged in the Jewish community, in Christian culture it can lead to body snatching, dismemberment and being sold off as souvenirs <bg> ( currently at the Cleveland Museum of Art is the touring exhibition of relics from medieval Europe
>>>
>>>http://www.clevelandart.org/visit/Exhibitions.aspx?utm_source=cma&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=toh
>>>
>>>a subject that has always fascinated me. If I were a particularly good person in those times I'd be very careful about nodding off at dinner or sleeping so soundly I might be considered to have been called to my Heavenly Reward lest relatives or admirers decided it was time to pop my shinbone into the display case and start selling tickets )
>>>>
>>>>btw I didn't like Titanic.
>>>
>>>I didn't either, but that was because somebody ruined it for me and told me ahead of time the boat was going to sink.
>>>
>>>Actually, my mother's aunt, Mary Davison was a survivor. My nieces and nephews became celebrities at show and tell at school when the movie came out taking in the dress she wore in the lifeboat and the letter she wrote from England to her family in Bedford, OH, saying she and her husband were coming on the Titanic. ( he went down with it )
>>
>>As a child I was fascinated by the altar stone after the priest told us that there was a holy relic embedded in every altar stone.
>
>Of course we were taught this was just another example of Popish idolatry <bg>
>
>But I remember that as a kid when we went to the museum and they had a skull encased in gold and jewels I thought that was really cool.
>
>>
>>What class was your mothers aunt travelling in ?
>
>probably 2nd or 3rd. I used to know. Have a passenger manifest someplace. She died sometime in the 1930s. Mom knew her as a little girl and evidently was very moved by the stories. She belonged to some historical society about it and through it we became close to the descendants of Harry Davison ( I think he's on the manifest under his first name of John) who mom never met as the Titanic went down 10 years before she was born. They are in Devizes and we visited back and forth quite a bit. ( Aunt Mary was from Malmesbury ) I pretty much burned out on all of it while the movie was out. Mom was giving talks on it and showing up at the exhibits etc.

I like Devizes. Used to go over there and walk up the Kennet & Avon canal into the town. The canal climbs a hill outside the town so there is a long flight of locks (you probably know this :-))

Also home of my favourite beer Wadworths 6X.

Those interesting relative stories from the past are wonderful (maybe the wrong word for a sailing disaster)