I have found the twin that I have always known was separated from me at birth.
Joel Stein. Journalist and occasional television writer.
My long-lost twin bother.
The evidence is overwhelming. He was born in the same year as me, allegedly five months later, but if I was going to surreptitiously separate twins at birth, I’d forge their birth certificates, too.
He’s a writer, like me, and he, too, has written some controversial pieces over the years that have ruffled feathers and necessitated apologies.
But the real evidence comes from a piece in Time magazine.
The similarities in our thinking, personal beliefs and writing style are stunning.
The first paragraph alone contains 62 words that I would have likely assembled in this exact order had someone asked me to write about the prospect of drawing up a will.
Stein, my twin brother, writes:
I have never felt the need to make a will. Mostly because it’s premised on the faulty logic that I’m going to die. Also, I don’t really like any of the stuff I have or any of the people who would want my stuff. You want my Yes concert T-shirts? Just ask me for them. There is no need whatsoever to kill me.
Please note the multitude of startling similarities:
Our rejection of death and presumption of immortality.
Our disregard for physical possessions.
Our presumed belief that there is probably someone out there who wants to kill us.
Our mutual adoration of our concert T-shirt collections (mine are Tesla and Bon Jovi, but still)
The whole piece is outstanding, amusing and insightful, and most of it could have also come directly from my mind, as well.
There are many times when a writer reads something as clever and insightful as this and is consumed with envy for not having written the piece first. But in this case, Joel is family, and I find it comforting that I am not the only person in the world who thinks the way I do.
