For a few years now, i have been experimenting with not using capital letters for my name and the pronoun, i. There are two primary reasons. People point it out and want to understand the reasoning. That gives us the opportunity to explain that our work is about the value and worth of all people. It is not about the cleverness of our programs; it is about the capacities that reside within all people. Titles, presidential, royal or otherwise point to the fact that the world believes that some people are more important. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each of us have hundreds of thousands of choices, opportunities and circumstances we do not control that influence the outcome of our lives. To act as if one is “better than” anyone, in any way, is to acknowledge an underlying fear that we are, in truth, less than.
Here is a mindful moment that i feel explains it well:
Of late, i have been experimenting with using the small letter i instead of capitalizing it.
As i do that, it must be corrected each time it occurs because the computer wants it to be a capital I.
Using the small i reminds me each and every time that i am simply one in a family of 7,632,819,325 people (estimate for July 2018).
It seems to put me in perspective.”
