Was there ever an ‘I’?

I once watched a show and heard someone say, “I have myself, me and I, so we are good”. This one sentence got me thinking. Was there an “I” for us human beings? 

Can we truly say I for anything or truly take credit for anything at all? If we follow the laws of physics according to the law of conservation of mass, which is known as Lavoisier’s Law, “Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed.” 

Most scientists agreed that nothing is created out of thin air. Every creation builds on something or sparks from some other creations. However, since I am not a scientist by profession, I will stay away from scientific arguments. Let me go back and state the obvious. I will stick with the logical way of life as you and I can relate to it.

Let’s look at our existence. If we follow simple logic, we were once born, given birth to by a woman, who had to couple up with a man either physically or through means of clinical procedures. Nevertheless, a union of chromosomes was required from two individuals. Many months later after undergoing many stages of growth and transformation, we were ready to see the world. We were born. We did not just randomly appear out of thin air. By default, we were already linked to the two chromosomes givers. It was a ‘we’ and not an ‘I’. 

But let’s assume however that we grew apart from these two individuals who gave us birth, we went on and followed our passion and became successful and powerful. Would there be ‘I’ accomplished great things at this point? Let’s analyze this statement and logically understand what it will take for the ‘I’ to be sustained. 

We will surely need the owner of the I statement to have lived alone, produced his food, fetched his water, produced his electricity, and learned completely by himself with no single input from any school system, no teacher or mentor, no outside input how so ever. I’m sure you get the point. Now the question is, do you see the above scenario ever possible in one’s life? Who I’m kidding? I’m sure you heard the story of Richard Louis Proenneke, an American who self-educated and lived alone for many years in Alaska in a log cabin that he made himself and grew his food and self-sustained himself or the story of Carl McCunn, another American who was stranded in Alaskan wildness and eventually died after running out of food supplies. Although, I would still argue that these two individuals once lived in modern society, learned some basics, and piggie back on modern knowledge before deciding for themselves to venture into the wildness to test out some strongly believed theories of self-sustainability, yet again, I will leave this argument alone.

Although, my point as you can already tell is that it is almost impossible to completely self-sustain. One would almost be foolish to convince him or herself that he or she could ever be able to self-sustain. In this current modern world, as of this writing in 2023, where we are becoming better by leveraging the technology created by others, specializing in one area, and benefiting from others’ specialty to gain from the laws of synergy. I would further argue that one who thinks in terms of ‘I’ is poor by default. 

Instead, I would say that we rise by riding on the shoulders of giants before us, we become successful by leveraging the lessons learned or the mistakes of people in our past, and we overcome adversity by learning of the past ancestor’s adversities, therefore, there was never an ‘I’ that is possible. There have been pasts and people before us, either we acknowledge this past because it is obvious to us or because it is distant, we must surely be mindful that none of our success can ever be possible if the past has not tried and failed miserably. The following is what I would suggest to our current mankind.

Let’s stop fooling ourselves with so many ‘I’ once we accomplished something. If we were as important, we would have been allowed to live on forever. However, internal life on earth, as of this writing is not yet a scientific fact.  

Instead, pursue your passion with everything you’ve got. Identify what you truly love and are passionate about and work towards becoming an expert in that field. Specialize in that one thing that makes you unique and makes you “YOU”. Whether it’s art, science, music, or another field, being passionate about what you do can inspire others and make a lasting impact on the world.

Always be kind and mindful of others. Find ways to make a positive impact on the world around you. Remember that what you have was uniquely given to you so you can help someone. So tomorrow, someone can rise on your shoulders and be somebody. Volunteer your time if that suits you or work towards creating a more sustainable future. Small acts of kindness can make a big difference.

Be in continuous learning mode and teach others every opportunity you get. Share your knowledge and expertise with others through teaching, mentoring, or writing because you never know who would need your uplifting thoughts. You never know who would need to learn from your mistake so they will not waste time on the same mistakes.  Always be an example to the generation to come, do your best to live your life with integrity as it is true to you in the time that you leave in, and lead by example. Show others what it means to be compassionate, hardworking, and committed to making a difference in the world.

Remember, leaving a mark on the world is not about achieving fame or fortune or even being remembered forever or ever trying to fool oneself that we matter or that ‘I’ accomplished something. It’s about making a positive impact in the lives of others and leaving the world a little better than we found it as Sir Robert Baden-Powell would say. Yes, it was never about us. It was always about others besides us. Let’s go out and help as many people as we can. IMPACT!