Some in journalism consider themselves apart from and to some extent above the people they purport to serve.
I have always been tall. When I was five, I towered above all the boys in my class, so it is something I have grown up with.
I think I've committed the one really bad English crime, which is I've risen above my station. I was supposed to be a pop star, and suddenly I'm claiming that I'm an artist of some kind.
By nominating Chuck Hagel to be his Defense secretary, President Obama is putting forward an aloof contrarian who doesn't suffer fools - a striving politician who considers himself above politics.
This above all makes history useful and desirable; it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.
The actor always must be in the scene, not above the scene. To communicate any larger ideas is my problem; it's how the narrative is constructed and directed that hopefully does it.