Perhaps to lose a sense of where you are implies the danger of losing a sense of who you are. - Ralph Ellison

"Yes, they think we're dumb. They call us the "common people." But I've been sitting here listening and looking and trying to understand what's so common about us. I think they're guilty of a gross mis-statement of fact-we are the uncommon people-"

The clock ticked with empty urgency, as though trying to catch up with the time. In the street a siren howled.

Meaning grows in the mind, but the shape and form of the act remains.