The Culturally Conscious Board

7 Identity

The wise attend to the inner truth of things and are not fooled by outward appearances.

LAO TZU30

That vacant chair, Michael thought to himself. The traffic light stared back an eternal red. He drummed his fingers on the leather steering wheel . . . pinky to thumb, over and over . . . drumming . . . willing the light to change, as with Jedi powers. That vacant chair. He was still thinking about it on his drive back through town, back to Buffalo. It was only a 27-minute drive. But in some ways, what he did every first Tuesday was worlds apart from so much of his life. At least, in comparison to his life today.

Michael had not always lived in such fine settings. In many ways, he was still unused to it, as his wife, Sharon, might ...