A conspiracy of orphans

From John Berger, "Confabulations," on why he writes the way he does.

From childhood, "I treated all those I encountered as if they too were orphans like me.  And I believe I still do this.

"I propose a conspiracy of orphans. We exchange winks. We reject hierarchies. All hierarchies. We take the shit of the world for granted and we exchange stories about how we nevertheless get by. We are impertinent. More than half the stars in the universe are orphan-stars belonging to no constellation. And they give off more light than all the constellation stars.
"Yes we are impertinent.  And I guess that I approach and chat up readers in the same way.  As if you too were orphans."