Why can’t I forget the earnest eyes of the man who said to me in Jordan, "Until you speak Arabic, you will not understand pain"? Ridiculous, I thought. He went on, something to do with an Arab carrying sorrow in the back of the skull that only language cracks. A few words couldn’t do it. A general passive understanding wasn’t enough. At a neighborhood fair in Texas, somewhere between the German Oom-pah Sausage Stand and the Mexican Gorditas booth, I overheard a young man say to his friend, "I wish I had a heritage. Sometimes I feel – so lonely for one. " And the tall American trees were dangling their thick branches right down over his head. —"Speaking Arabic," Naomi Shihab Nye How does the anecdote, which appeals to pathos, effectively support Nye’s purpose? The anecdote makes readers feel sorry for the man’s lack of heritage, then reminds readers that the man has an equally valuable heritage. The anecdote makes readers want to enjoy the delicious ethnic food at the fair, then reminds them they have their own ethnic food. The anecdote makes readers empathize with the man from Jordan, in contrast to Nye, who seems unable to understand pain. The anecdote uses logical evidence, such as facts and statistics, to explain why heritage is important.