Gail Rae
Phoenix AZ
I was born into a Jewish family, a family so Jewish that my grandfather was a lay cantor and they had to flee the Czar's religious persecution in Russia during the early 20th Century. I loved the ceremony and the rituals, but hit a snag as a child attending Sunday School when I was given a textbook entitled "We, the Chosen People." Wait a minute, if we were chosen, why weren't all the other people in the world?
I started slowly withdrawing from organized religion of any kind. As I matured, I discovered The New Age and became curious. The more I read, the more I explored, the more comfortable I felt, even when the emblem started to become hackneyed. I liked everyone caring about everyone else and the assurance that we could make changes in our world. I'd spent years investigating other religions and cultures. No longer wanting to be a joiner, this was both private and public enough for me.
