... We Die, Just As We Were

The Identity Cannot Be Compartmentalized; It Cannot Be Split In Halves Or Thirds, Nor Have Any Clearly Defined Set Of Boundaries. I Do Not Have Several Identities, I Only Have One, Made Of All The Elements That Have Shaped Its Unique Proportions.

Taking The Line Of Least Resistance, We Lump The Most Different People Together Under The Same Heading. Taking The Line Of Least Resistance, We Ascribe To Them Collective Crimes, Collective Acts And Opinions. "the Serbs Have Massacred…", "the English Have Devastated…", "the Jews Have Confiscated…", "the Blacks Have Torched", "the Arabs Refuse…". We Blithely Express Sweeping Judgments On Whole Peoples, Calling Them "hardworking" And "ingenious", Or "lazy", "touchy", "sly", "proud", Or "obstinate". And Sometimes This Ends In Bloodshed." – Amin Maalouf "on Identity

I Come From No Country, From No City, No Tribe. I Am The Son Of The Road... All Tongues And All Prayers Belong To Me. But I Belong To None Of Them.

Every Individual Is A Meeting Ground For Many Different Allegiances, And Sometimes These Loyalties Conflict With One Another And Confront The Person Who Harbors Them With Difficult Choices

Let Us Thank God For Having Made Us This Gift Of Death, So That Life Is To Have Meaning; Of Night, That Day Is To Have Meaning; Silence, That Speech Is To Have Meaning; Illness, That Health Is To Have Meaning; War, That Peace Is To Have Meaning. Let Us Give Thanks To Him For Having Given Us Weariness And Pain, So That Rest And Joy Are To Have Meaning. Let Us Give Thanks To Him, Whose Wisdom Is Infinite.