"I"

Sometimes I get ideas at odd and weird times. Like I got this sudden epiphany to write this post while I was scrubbing the floor at one of my parents' apartments for rent.

Yeah anyway, the topic to discuss here is about the word "I."

Okay I suppose it is only relevant if I begin with the definition of the word "I."

I, i
–pronoun
1.the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.

"I" is one of the most commonly used word by everyone. But did you know "I" is one of the most selfish words? Well maybe not under certain circumstances but generally yes it is a very selfish word.

The instance you start with the word "I" it already indicates selfishness. Like okay if I say "I love you" to you, I am being selfish. Why? Because I'm saying that "I" love you, and only I can. No one else is mentioned. I'm only talking about myself. That is already being selfish. But maybe not selfish in a horribly bad way. Just subtle enough to be dismissed.

I'm not saying "I" is a bad word to use. I'm just bringing up what I realised. This is just an innocent discussion where we just sit and share our opinions. I always try to point out in my posts that I'm not looking to start a flame session but just sharing my ideas. But regardless of that there are still people who must have missed that because they'll reply with something defensive.

This is because (if you notice) I use a lot of "I"s when writing here. Like I said, "I" is a very selfish word. In sentences beginning with "I" it does not express selfishness expressively but rather implicitly. So perhaps some readers might feel that I'm being very selfish here because all I talk about is about how "I" think.

Another selfish word that can go along with "I" very well is "want." The moment you say "I want", it already means you're being selfish.

"I want you to do this"

That is the ultimate selfish command. It's not a request but a command. It's saying that "I" want you to do it, not because they, he, she or yourself. It doesn't sound pleasant either. Whenever people start with "I want you to...", I get a little agitated already. Isn't it much more accommodating to use "Can you do ... for me?" It doesn't sound as selfish as the other one and it is a request, not a command.

Sometimes people don't realise how selfish saying "I want you to..." sounds. Perhaps because that sentence comprise of words that are so commonly used. And because it's used so commonly that people just forget the precise meaning of it. It's almost like phrases or words that are used ubiquitously like hmm... "Road tax." I don't know about others but my parents pronounce it as "ro-tex." It's like words like these are spoken so often that people just say it for the sake of saying it. They don't pay attention to the meaning, hence it comes out being "ro-tex."

Yeah so sometimes people don't realise how selfish they can sound even when they're not really expressively meaning it. Haha I think I went a little off-track there. I was supposed to be talking about how selfish "I" is. Oh well. This is gonna end here. Till the next post then. ;)

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