Cult of Jef

I’ve never done a great job of keep­ing up with world events.  When I was in high school, for the longest time I thought Air Jor­dan was an Israeli air­port blown up by the Pales­tine Lib­er­a­tion Orga­ni­za­tion (PLO).  I must say that I felt rather fool­ish once I found out that they were ath­letic shoes named after bas­ket­ball player Michael Jordan.

About the same time, I remem­ber hear­ing every­one talk­ing about the youth in Asia.  I thought this was odd.  Why not just say kids?  Or chil­dren?  Any­way, I began to hear the youth in Asia men­tioned on the news and in ener­getic argu­ments by mem­bers of the debate team.  I wasn’t fol­low­ing the reports or con­ver­sa­tions; I just picked up on that phrase youth in Asia.

Finally, I heard some­one bring up those Asian kids again in news­pa­per class.  I threw down my pen­cil and asked, “What’s the big deal about those darn kids in Asia?  I’m sick of  hear­ing about them!”

My class­mates turned and looked at me.  “We’re not talk­ing about the youth in Asia,” one said.  “We’re dis­cussing assisted sui­cide, which is also known as euthana­sia.”  It dawned on me that Dr. Kevorkian’s name had been men­tioned, along with the youth in Asia.  It was a mis­take that any­one could have made, although I had wished that any­one else would have made it instead of me.