Lately, I’ve found myself thinking about the countless business dinners and social meals my parents attended during their early years in America. Before ordering, my mother would invariably tell the server: “We are strictly vegetarian. No meat, no chicken, no fish, no eggs.” She might then remind them—no beef stock, no gelatin…and list all the ways in which meat might be hidden in our food. As a child, I often felt a twinge of embarrassment when she said it. I worried that we were making things difficult, creating extra work for the wait staff, drawing attention to ourselves in a way I wished we wouldn’t. What I didn’t appreciate then was how much courage that simple sentence required. Especially when social pressures and convention would invite conformity. Instead they were often forced to answer a set of uncomfortable, sometimes ignorant questions: “Have you always been a vegetarian?” “How do you get protein?” “Have you ever tried meat?” “Don’t you know you’re missing out?” And then they quietly would use the moment to share our belief system. My parents arrived in a country where fitting in would have been easier than standing apart. They could have quietly relaxed their commitments. They could have decided that some traditions were not worth carrying across an ocean. Instead, they held fast to a faith and culture rooted in nonviolence, one that called them to remain strictly vegetarian even when it was inconvenient, awkward, or misunderstood. I don’t judge those who made different choices. Every immigrant family navigates these questions in its own way. But looking back, I see that what embarrassed me as a child was actually an expression of conviction. Every child of immigrants, I suspect, wants their parents to adapt a little more, to blend in a little better. We feel the friction when they don’t. Yet now, whenever my wife and I sit down with friends or colleagues and hear ourselves say, “We are strictly vegetarian. No meat, no chicken, no fish, no eggs,” I feel something entirely different. I feel gratitude. What once sounded to me like a dietary restriction now sounds like an inheritance. A small sentence. A quiet act of conviction. A reminder that my parents carried more than suitcases when they came to this country—they carried their beliefs. And they had the courage to keep carrying them.

i just got the funniest message ever

the concept of reading Lolita on a road trip with a guy the same age as you

“God I’m so lonely, please send me my nerdy Jewish husband, I know he’s out there somewhere getting into extremely niche theological arguments online”

any good novels that take place around lake erie and or upstate new york or authors from that region?

white people are honestly so brave for sunbathing and playing catch in peak midday 90 degree heat

lol this is crazy i have friends born in 98 they're gonna turn 30 in 2 years

people are all like "6th date wtfff" but it takes 40 hours of time together to form a casual friendship... how can you quit ahead of that level for a potential spouse?

have had the ac running all night, decide to turn it off because it's loud and "it can't be that hot anymore right" >uncomfortably hot within 5 min

why are they called reverts if they werent muzzie to begin with

Congrats to all of my current and future SpaceX clients on the IPO today! Girlfriends landing soon 🚀🤣

i would be in a loving relationship but my tweeting can't afford it

👇👇👇👇👇

spacex