“We have never met before, but I instantly know him. One look, one phrase, and I know where he grew up, how he grew up, where he got his drive and his sense of humor. He is New York. He is Jewish. He looks like my uncle Louis, his voice is my uncle Sam. I feel we’ve been together at countless weddings, bar mitzvahs, and funerals. I know his genetic structure. I’m certain that within the last five hundred years—perhaps even more recently—we shared the same ancestor.”
--- Robert Reich, Clinton administration Secretary of Labor, on his first face-to-face meeting with Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan
I chose this quote, not to focus on Jews in particular, but because Reich writes so well and truly. It would be the same for me and another Asian-American, or two white guys meeting in Cairo, or for me and another American (of any color) meeting in some foreign country. Reich is obviously quite self-aware, but the same effect is there even if entirely subconscious.
