iiiiii’ve been living a lie! two of them, actually.

So i got into a conversation the other night about why we capitalize the letter "i" in the English language. Those who know me know that these types of conversations are typical when i’m around. I’m an odd duck, i know. I ponder things like how strange it is that we’re given the responsibility to drive vehicles, why all of creation including nature and animals are given excuses for their bad behavior but humans are expected to get it right, why worms surface when it rains and then don’t go back underground when the sun comes out, why one’s reflection is ALWAYS upside down and backwards when looking into the front of a spoon, and so on and so forth. The questions and theories that my little brain comes up with are simply endless.

Anyway, back to the English language. In a sentence like "Did you know that I can dance the macarena?" (which is a lie of course…for now), the word "I" is always capitalized. Most people wouldn’t give this a second thought; after all, our English teachers taught it as a rule, probably claiming it as a proper personal pronoun. First of all, never take anything a teacher tells you as fact. A degree in any subject doesn’t mean everything; take the time to research things for yourself. I remember when i used the word "alright" in 9th grade and my English teacher insisted it wasn’t a word and that i had to use "all right." Now i probably came off as a smart aleck at the time but i refused to back down and whipped out a dictionary and proved to her that "alright" is most certainly a word – even if it isn’t the standard. Secondly, the word "I" may be a personal pronoun, but it is definitely not proper by any means. Do we capitalize "you" or "he" or "it"? No. And i can’t speak on behalf of every language in existence, but in all of the languages i’m aware of, the word for "I" is never capitalized. Yet in English, it is always capitalized. I’ll tell you why, and it has nothing at all to do with the fact that it’s a personal pronoun whatsoever! Check it out:

""Ego has nothing to do with the capitalization of the pronoun "I". Printing and handwriting have everything to do with it. In Middle English the first person was "ich"--with a lower-case "i". When this was shortened to "i", manuscript writers and printers found it often got lost or attached to a neighboring word. So the reason for the capital "I" is simply to avoid confusion and error. Of course, some writers refuse to be bound by this convention. Two of our favorites, the poet e.e. cummings and Don Marquis, author of archy and mehitabel, both favored the lower-case "i". (Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins 303)."

So there you have it. All this time we’ve been fooled into believing we had to capitalize the word i! Well not anymore, i tell you. I’m taking a stand against this ridiculousness antiestablishment-style and from here on out will refuse to capitalize the word "i" except when it begins a sentence. I am no more important than you or he or she or they or even it, and therefore i will remain a humble lowercase word.


On a separate note…not quite a revelation, but no less important:

As i was driving to Logan Airport this morning with my parents, i got to thinking about airports in general. I used to love them, but i’m starting to think this was simply a matter of misplaced affection all along. See, there were two main reasons why i loved airports:

1. The thrill of adventure – this is especially strong if you’re going on vacation somewhere, and if you’re headed to let’s say Fiji or Phuket the anticipation can be almost unbearable (in a good way, of course). And maybe it’s just me, but i’d think even business trips can be exciting if you’ll be seeing new territory. "Yeah but i’m headed to Ohio, so i don’t think so." That’s bs. All of life is an adventure and you can learn new things and create fun no matter what your destination – yes, even in Ohio.

2. The traffic flow – People of all different races and cultures are coming from and going to other places all over the world. Whether you are going on a trip yourself or picking someone else up for a visit, you are bound to run into some interesting characters and perhaps even be so blessed as to make a new friend or two. With such a heavy flow of diverse people moving around you and with you, the world doesn’t seem so big at all.

What i realized this morning, however, is that neither of these things are specific to airports but to travel in general. I don’t love airports, i love traveling. Airports are horrible, and why it has taken me years to reach this tainted conclusion is beyond me.

There are the more obvious, shall we say surfacey reasons: fast food restaurants, everyone being in a ridiculous rush to get here and do that, etc., impatient/rude travelers, aggravated/rude staff (except for that one African American woman in Georgia…if you ever happen to meet me, ask me to give you my best impersonation of her because it’s so worth it) and overpriced goods and services.

Then there’s the one reason that alone would be enough to leave me bitter about airports, and that’s the emotions involved. Going to meet someone for the first time, for example. I used to think this was an exciting process. Thanks to the times we’re living in and along with that my mum’s online job, my family has met and housed people from all over – Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Sweden and several U.S. states. It eventually became a running joke with everyone we knew. Our house already looked like a Ben & Breakfast and we were taking in so many different people that any friends we saw on a regular basis would ask, "Who are you boarding this week?" and whenever we’d enter a place with someone new it was "What country are YOU from?" even if it was just a school friend or something. So it was rather fun at first to make that trek up to Boston and meet people with names like Albertine, Helene and Matze (or as in this weekend’s case, Joules) and bring them home and show them around the area.

After a while, though, the anticipation game gets old and i realized the butterflies in my stomach are not there because i’m excited but because this is not the way humans are intended to meet each other for the first time at all. The jitters and nerves are not cool with me anymore and i’ve decided that in the perfect world that exists only in my head, my plane would land in the middle of my destination city instead of at an airport and i would just walk off and head down the street and put my bags in my hotel and then head out to meet the person i went there to see. No making the other person wait while you locate your luggage and then assist in carrying any extra bags you may have. No walking out after countless hours of stale recycled oxygen and total immobility looking like Helena Bonham Carter in Fight Club and hoping the other person doesn’t flee the scene screaming because you look nothing like the photos they’ve seen. No awkward moments of "Do we hug or not hug?" "Should i help them with that?" "What’s good driving-home-from-the-airport conversation?" or "Am i boring them?" None of that! Just a natural, comfortable meeting in neutral territory that has no emotional connotations attached to it.

Then, of course, there’s the saying goodbye aspect of things. I’ve always had a very difficult time with this and have embarrassed myself on numerous occasions by bawling my eyes out when parting ways with someone – even with complete strangers for a visit that only lasted several days! It’s just horrible, especially when i know i won’t – or probably won’t – see the other person again in my lifetime. Thankfully these days it’s possible to keep in touch via e-mail or phone or any number of community networking websites…but still, it’s never the same as being with someone in person.

Oh, by the way…stay tuned for part 2: "The Five Types of People You Meet at the Airport"