The Way We Live Now

By DAVID BROOKS
NYT

The senators at the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings on Monday told the story that public officials are expected to tell on these occasions. It is the civil rights story — about a young minority woman from humble circumstances who overcomes obstacles, fights discrimination and achieves the American dream. It’s a true and inspiring story that people like telling and hearing.

And yet the profiles of Judge Sotomayor’s life tell a different and more complicated story. It’s the upward mobility story — about a person who worked hard and contributes profoundly to society, but who also sacrificed things along the way.

As you read the profiles, you can almost draw a map of her relationships during each stage in her life. In some areas, her relationships are thick and fulfilling, but in others, there are blank spaces.

Her father died when she was 9, leaving one such gap. (It is amazing how many people who suffer parental loss between the ages of 9 and 13 go on to become astounding high achievers.)

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