You make a very good point, and I didn’t mean to be cavalier about the experience. I realize a closed adoption will both be different for each person and triggers emotions and practical concerns that I can’t possibly understand. And perhaps I’m romanticizing a bit, since I can’t ask Michener himself and he was (understandably) private about the subject, but in my own relationship with my son, I often feel that the things he doesn’t (and may never) know about his biological parents make him more empathetic. He’s so conscious and curious about others’ lives. Is that a presumptuous explanation? Maybe. Maybe he just has natural empathy, or this quality will evolve over time. But I don’t mean to suggest it’s either magical or universal. At any rate, I didn’t intend to provoke you, and I apologize that I have.