How Me Became We

What happened when "ME" became "just me."

Image credit: ‘Modern Reykjavík’ by Helgi Halldórsson, CC BY-SA 2.0
Image credit: ‘Modern Reykjavík’ by Helgi Halldórsson, CC BY-SA 2.0 (photo: Wikimedia Commons)

As long as I can remember there was “ME.” I liked me. In fact, if you’d have asked me what was wrong with the world I would’ve probably said there’s way too many of THEM and not enough ME. I must admit, it was nice being the solution to all the world’s problems while bearing none of the responsibility. That was on THEM.

But at some point, however, I was surprised to feel that ME wasn’t enough. ME began to feel more like “just me.” And I soon found myself a “just me” in search of a “we.” But I wasn’t just searching for any old we. I sought the kind of “we” that makes me more “me,” if you know what I mean. That’s not an easy thing to find, especially in a world filled with THEMS.

But me being me and with a little bit of luck, I was able to sort through the THEMS and find the perfect “WE.” It took some doing but if I’m being honest with myself, I expected nothing less from ME.

But a funny thing happens when a ME becomes a WE. It wouldn’t seem like a big change. Linguistically, it’s just one letter. An M to W. Just turned upside down. But we all know that upside down things are different in every way.  

I learned that “WE” do things that a Me would never do. And see all sorts of thems a me would never see. And there’s all sorts of new THEMS you meet. And soon, some of the thems stop being so them-y. Suddenly, the world seems a little bit bigger yet not as scary. It’s harder to be scared when you’re a “We” and there’s not so many thems.

I must admit I found the WE thing going quite well because looking back in hindsight I think our We was mainly about Me. And that was ok with Me.  But then I was told there’d be another very small member of WE to enter our WE, making it a veritable “us.” I’m embarrassed to report that I wondered “how will this affect Me?” Perhaps this newcomer won’t understand the order of the me-centric universe. It’s all been neatly laid out for years. Quite nicely, mind you.

In fact, the strangest thought occurred to me then, this little member of WE might even consider themselves a ME. Now, where would that leave us? Much to my chagrin, my worst fears were confirmed.  She was very much a me. All the time. At any and every hour of the day and night.

Oh my.

And then you’ll never guess what happened. There was a me too and soon a me three.

I found my me-centric universe shifting, like a snowglobe in which everything is dormant, comfortable and pretty until shaken into further beauty.

I don’t know how it happens. I just know that it does. But when a me becomes a we and finally an US, I  don’t miss ME so much.

I still like me. I love US. Me became we became US. I think US becomes me. But maybe that’s just me.