There are very few people that I can truly relate to in terms of sharing my particular sensibilities. I see things very different then most of the folks I spend my day-to-day with.
I try to read as many different view points as I can. I force myself to listen to those who purposely , in my opinion, try to mislead. I am open to having my conventional wisdom challenged and am not afraid to change my mind. As my friend Marc puts it - "I go where the data takes me."
Without an exception, well maybe one time, the columnist Leonard Pitts has always articulated issues and events in a way that closely resembles my way of looking at it. Except he can write and defend it better than I can, oh yea, he has also won a Pulitzer Prize for doing it. But besides from all that we are almost twins, except he is black and I am white (Stevie Wonder song get out of my head!).
Why do I share a similar stream of consciousness with this guy? Is it because we are both the same age and are both from Southern California? But we grew up very different. I had a very stable family life, he did not. He was very smart and did well in school, I struggled. Then there is the black/white thing going on in how we lived, although it was not really that big of deal in California - at least for me.
So there is something in both our makeup that is unique to both of us. Something we share that transcends race, upbringing, geography, and culture. I am not sure exactly what it is, but I see it in his writing and I see it in mine. We seem to both be very pragmatic and empathetic to a fault. I find it comforting that there is at least one other soul out there that sees it like I see it.
When my blogging wins me a Pulitzer we will truly be equals. But for now I'll settle just for one reader. Crickets....Crickets.....
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