'I am who I am'

In a New York Times article today about New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s barbed and impolitic campaign comments, the Mayor is quoted defending himself with the words, “I am 67 years old. I am who I am.”

As it turns out I’m 67 years old and I am who I am.

The mayor’s remarks were timely in more ways than one. I happened to be feeling the sting of a young man who had just e-mailed me about some comment I had made. “I’m not sure, honestly, where you come up with your sweeping generalizations and judgments on people,” he wrote.

I wrote back asking him to be specific because, frankly, his own statement seemed pretty sweeping and judgmental itself. If he writes, we’re probably in for a long exchange that could lead to my favorite resolution — coffee and cranberry scones at the local bakery, Baker & Spice.

But, after reading the Times, I wondering whether I should have simply said, “Look, I am 67 years old. I am who I am.”