Life Advice

/

Health

Furious relative will not attend bar mitzvah

By Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

And now I wonder: Who put you in charge of the rest of the family?

You are obviously infuriated by the parents' choice to hold this religious ceremony in an ultra-orthodox venue. The boy's father, who it seems is already deeply involved in the Jewish community, may be moving toward a more conservative faith practice. Do you expect to disrupt his journey toward the ultra-orthodox through your own tough judgment? Could you exert enough pressure to get this branch of your wife's family to change? (No, you could not.)

I appreciate your concern about the position of women in this particular faith community, but I have news for you: my own perspective is that many orthodox religious practices and/or closed faith-based communities (such as the Chabad, Amish, Mormon, orthodox Christian, Muslim, and others) are deeply sexist in structure (if not always on the surface). And I say this as an active, if occasionally infuriated, Methodist.

Furthermore, your desire to control your wife is -- well, let's just call it ironic.

Stay home if you want. Control your own impulse to control other people.

Dear Amy: I am in my early 30s and I have a great career and home.

 

I am single and live my life to my wants and needs. I've never had jealous tendencies. There is an old friend I have known from my grammar school days who is engaged, and recently purchased a home with her fiancé.

We do not socialize anymore in person. I do not harbor ill will toward her despite my low opinion of her. She was the type of person who always had to one-up your story or have something better than what you had. She cut corners in school and put more time into controlling how others perceived her.

She posted photos of the home along with the square footage in the description.

The recent posting of her new 'mansion' has me green with envy. I'm disappointed in myself. I do not know why I feel this way, but I cannot shake the feeling.

...continued

swipe to next page

 

 

Comics

David Horsey 1 and Done Daddy's Home Caption It Al Goodwyn Beetle Bailey