After I saw this painting "jeg" in Trondheim(the word means "I" in English), it occurred to me that in English, "I" is always capitalized. Even in the middle of a sentence. That is not the same in other languages where "i" is just another word. Like in Norwegian.
But in Norway "i" is not as important as "I" is in English. And this relates to what is sometimes referred to as Janteloven or Jante's Law...that is a law which governs social behavior. Since my son Tom has recently graduated from a law school, this may be of particular importance.
While Janteloven has ten principles, I shall mention only a few. They are written in Danish but since Denmark ruled Norway for so many centuries and since the current king comes from a Danish family, they also apply here.
1 - Du skal ikke tro, du er noget.
You shall not believe that you are somebody.
2 - Du skal ikke bilde dig ind, at du er bedre end os.
You shall not imagine that you are any better than us.
3 - Du skal ikke tro, at du duer til noget.
You shall not believe that you are good at anything.
4 - Du skal ikke tro, at du kan lære os noget!
You shall not believe that you can teach us anything!
Now as the painting "jeg" proposes, there is an anti-Jante's law movement...fueled perhaps by American consumerism as much as anything. And these principles...some which if you live in the United States, you might have heard in your kindergarten class or in your psychologist's office as an adult.
1 - Du er enestående.
You are exceptional.
2 - Du duer til noget.
You are good at something.
3 - Der er nogen der er glad i dig.
There are someone who love you.
4 - Du har store ubrugte resurser.
You've got a bundle of unused resources.
So now what does that look like. Well I have two pictures from my trip to contrast. Which one is Janteloven and which is anti-Janteloven?
Dear Reader, I will let you decide. Of course societies are composed of both the law and the anti-law, but, in fact, one does predominate. I just wonder if we stopped capitalizing "i" in English, what would happen?
