I sat next to a Derrida scholar on the plane, and he inspired me to reflect:

1) There is a belittlement of self, even a physical minimizing of the self, that has as its cause and passionate goal the enlargement of the self (ego).

2) It may be when the self stands up for itself, that is the moment that it speaks to power an ability to stand up for others.

3) identity (ipsem) is found not in the narcissistic reflection but the vulnerable opening of the self to the loving gaze of a family of others. Or perhaps a corollary (inspired by something C. Conroy said): the hardest ethic is to live as though another person is real, and doing so paradoxically reveals the selfless self as the real.

4) speaking in parallel with the lucid, tour de force of a book, Educated: curiosity and reflection and philosophy are the privilege of the powerful.