Article May 11, 1946 Issue

How Do You Say "I am"?

ETHEL DANIELS HUBBARD

How many times do you say "I am" in the course of day? The answer would be an inaccurate count, at best, since the words slip out unnoticed, so unconsciously are they spoken. Probably no other words are so recurrent in our speech as this smallest of sentences, "I am." Yet it can be actually momentous in its consequences.

Do you find yourself saying, I am tired, I am sick, I am bored, I am afraid, I am discouraged, I am young, or, I am old? Or are you more likely to exclaim, I am thankful, I am confident, I am full of energy, I am neither young nor old? Watch your speech to see if it aligns you on the negative or the positive side, if it stamps you as a spokesman for mortal mind or for the divine Mind. And remember it is not merely speech which is to be censored, but thought as well.

One day the writer was leaving home for a short trip when an acquaintance proffered an interesting admonition: "Remember who you are and what you represent." By way of explaining her remark, the speaker went on to say that she had been connected with a boys' camp where this advice was often voiced to the boys as they were leaving camp for a trip, as a reminder that the camp standards were to be maintained whereever its members went. To the listener, the words took on special meaning as she thought, To remember who I am is to remember that man is God's cherished and guarded child. What standards must I maintain? she asked herself. And the answer came, The standards of Christian Science, that Cause which is dearer to me and more necessary to the world than aught else, and which I in a measure represent.

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