I definitely identify with the long list of fantastic old white men who have discovered, created and fomented so much of what we call Western Civilization. I worship Shakespeare, Dante and anything recommended to me by Harold Bloom in his book The Western Canon.

I identify also with the Judeo-Christian heritage even though I have become increasingly secular in my spiritual life. This doesn’t mean I am a fascist, a conservative or a racist. I want to give everybody a break. Politically, I am a liberal, yellow-dog Democrat. But my true intellectual interests lean toward the Greek, Roman inheritance and what happened in the Renaissance after the Middle Ages. I am not terribly modern though I observed the ’60s/’70s and understood the atmosphere of rebellion. American movies were my greatest role model, mentor, moralist and education as a young person.

And, hey, I admire many civilizations and religions so long as they are not oppressing, torturing, killing or censoring people. I enjoy learning about all the varieties of history. I feel I’m open-minded about everything except maybe domestic politics in the United States.

Man’s ongoing unceasing inhumanity to man foments the biggest question in my life about why we are here and what we are doing here.