Yesterday I had an odd experience at work. Someone I recognize but do not really know who occasionally works in the office where I spend part of my days (when I am not out and about town) mistook me for someone else who happens to look a little like me who works in another office. This is not an unusual event, and though it does not happen every day, it happens fairly often that people assume I am someone else and act familiar in such a way that feels improper given that they are strangers to me. Over the course of my life I have met a doppleganger on a few occasions, and at other times I have met people who knew someone who looked just like me (and sometimes even had a similar personality). I find these sorts of occasions very amusing.

For example, while I was a poor and obscure college student visiting some friends of mine who lived in Simi Valley at the time, I just happened to be invited (as a guest of my friends) to one of their neighbor’s house parties one evening after the Sabbath. This particular neighbor of theirs, who had a nice home and apparently had made some money renting out his properties for films, had invited a guest who commented that I reminded her of her son who was about my age and looked a lot like me. I commented that I wondered who the evil twin was, and she said that was exactly what her son would say as well, and in conversation, I found out that the son was an engineering student who had some interests in music as well, making him somewhat similar to me in that regard as well.

Nor is this the only time that I have had an unusual “evil twin.” While in the course of my life’s travels, in both Cincinnati and here in Portland I have been (at least temporarily) confused for other people. At least, by and large, the people that I have been confused for are decent and upstanding people. So far in my life the people I have been confused for have all been friendly enough people, with something in common, be it similar interests (in music or engineering), a similar sort of politeness with the hint of a dry and witty sense of humor, as well as certain physical features, including thinning blond hair and a slightly Germanic looking face and body. Since I do not have a particularly distinctive look about me, as it is a very common one in the United States (and probably Western Europe as well), I suppose it should make sense that a lot of people look like me.

One of the saddest occasions I remember for this particular quality was when I last visited Pennsylvania in 2007. I came to Pennsylvania at an unhappy time to attend the funeral of my paternal grandmother. While at the memorial service, I heard people behind me who I did not know comment that I was “Johnny’s Boy,” as the resemblance between my father and I was strong (I am of a more slender build than he is, and with freckles, but we have the same basic look in terms of balding blond hair, a certain facial structure, similar height, ruddy complexion, and the like). It was a bit bothersome to be so easily recognized by people I did not know, who could spot the Albright family resemblance very quickly.

In many cases, having a doppleganger (or an evil twin, however you prefer to call it) is an occasion for mistaken identity, where people think they know you and know about you and do not. I have had this problem occur often in my life, where people assume a knowledge about me that they do not possess. At times they may assume good things, such as a certain friendliness and familiarity with me, and at times they may assume bad things about me that do not exist. If the former, I do my best to gently correct and place them in an accurate position, with a shared inside joke to follow. If the latter, I do my best to explain myself and the truth about my character. At times, though, our genuine and true nature may be seen by those whom we resemble. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing, as there are simply occasions where we might want to hide one aspect of our nature or another, not necessarily because it is bad, but because it makes us feel uncomfortable or because it is too awkward and threatening to have ourselves so fully exposed to the world. In such cases it would be nice to have a case of mistaken identity.