The Company Of The Elite

In our ordinary language we tend to label things in a way that implies sameness. Yet, “We live in a world in which no two things are alike in all respects … Look anywhere you want for two things that are alike in all respects: two grains of sand, two peas in a pod, two fingernails, two leaves on a tree, two sticks of chewing gum. You will find many things that are similar … But you will never find two things that are absolutely identical … If we are to think maturely, we must be aware of similarities and differences, both. We will get into trouble if we act as though all men or all women are similar in all respects. We will also get into trouble if we act as though all men or all women are different in all respects… We cannot, for example, meet one or two or even a dozen Russians and generalize about all Russians.”1

The notion that…