Devil Duckies

I have five tiny little rubber duckies with horns on their heads lining the top of my flat screen monitor at work. They're called Devil Duckies... and they come in assorted colors. I have purple, red, blue, yellow and green. I gave orange to my dad because he likes ducks. I keep these little ducks in my office because they make me laugh and they're cute in that mischievous way that little evil things are....

Sometimes when we have important people come into the office, I take the ducks down just in case they might offend someone who is deeply religious... or something. But things with the duckies got a little more complicated when my co-worker’s children started visiting the office frequently and talking about religion...

Flash back to two weeks ago...My newest co-worker and I were working on a children's newsletter and she included an activity in the newsletter that gave instructions for making slime. We thought we should test them out to make sure they worked so she bought various supplies including Elmer's glue and laundry detergent and we prepared to make the concoction when, two of our other co-workers children showed up. They were just back from camp (church camp) and were very excited to help us make slime. We were thrilled to have real kids to test out our slime recipe and we started the project... Sometime toward the end of our slime-making experiment (it really worked, by the way) the little girl asked us if we were Christians.

Whenever this type of question is aimed directly at me I get very uncomfortable. I am not exactly sure why I feel ashamed to be Jewish, or that it is something to hide, but I do. I suppose I have had enough people look at me strangely or act uncomfortable upon receiving the news that I have learned not to volunteer the information. But what do you do when you are blatantly asked: Are you a Christian? So, I said no and told the kids that I am Jewish. You could see little gears churning in their heads and the little girl started talking about how Jesus was Jewish and so on. I had to explain that I believe in the Old Testament, not the new one. She said, "Well, I believe in the whole bible." Then she started saying things like, "I know another JEW. We live next to a JEW." Later, when I was back in my office feeling slightly uncomfortable by her unwitting prejudice, she came back in and invited me to her birthday party that weekend. "Let's see, there will be one other JEW there," she said, as if that was very important to me, as if I couldn't socialize with people who weren't Jewish. I knew that she didn't mean anything she was saying maliciously, but it didn't help make me any more comfortable with the way she kept screaming JEW when she was around me. I went home and told Neil about it and we both agreed that perhaps this experience with me would help my co-worker's daughter to be more understanding later in life.

Flash forward to this week when our office received another visit from the same kids. The little girl came straight into my office (home of the devil duckies) and started raiding my drawer. She had done this before and somehow talked me into giving her half of my pens so today I was prepared. She picked up a purple pen that I really like and I said, "That's my favorite pen," in an effort to deter her from asking for it.

"What? That's your HEBREW pen?" she said.

My stomach sank. "No, that's my favorite pen."

"Oh, I thought you said HEBREW pen."

Awkward pause.

Little girl: "Those ducks are evil!"

Me: mind racing. Oh no, now they are going to think all Jews are devil worshipers or something... Aaak what do I say... "Oh, no, they're not evil; they're just cute little mischievous ducks."

The older brother, who was also in my office, sort of looked at me sideways and left my office. The little girl stayed and asked if she could braid my hair. I said OK since it was the end of the work day. But instead of braiding my hair, she gave me two pig tails on the very top of my head. Some coworkers walked by and laughed and as soon as she left my office, I took them out and didn't think anything of it... but when I related the story to Neil he got a concerned look, "Jodi, she gave you horns."

I don't think the horn imagery was deliberate... but I do wonder if I have failed to do my part as one of two Jewish people this little girl knows. It is difficult to suddenly become the spokesperson for a religion you barely practice...a culture you know you're a part of, but would be hard-pressed to accurately explain. I am not qualified to be one of two Jewish people that little girl has met. I have devil duckies in my office. She probably thinks I am going to hell…and I keep wondering if I have failed her by not setting a better example.