As an English major, I've often been told that I'm crazy. I'm crazy for loving puns, getting enjoyment out of editing essays and going into an all out frenzy whenever I find a grammatical mistake in a published piece of writing. I've also been labeled as crazy for choosing to be an English major in the first place, but there are an abundance of reasons why it's the perfect fit for me and why I wouldn't have it any other way.
Writing a five page paper, basically per day and reading at least two books per week has become routine for me, so much so that I'm not even phased by it anymore. Read a six hundred page book by tomorrow, I got this. Write a ten page paper in three hours, bring it on. Well maybe, that's a stretch. Whenever I have to do either of these things, I have a little, mini panic attack and my face looks something like this:
But, in all seriousness, I've learned so many important lessons as an English major. I learned how to read, and I don't mean enough to get by, I mean really read, so that I can understand the overall purpose of the book. There's nothing greater than finishing a book and interpreting its meaning, because I believe that literature and life go hand in hand. Each book I read teaches me another lesson about life, about love, about happiness, about sadness, and about interpersonal relationships. So, the next time, someone tells you it's just a book, think again, because it's so much more more than that. In my opinion, it's everything.
I've also learned how to write. I've learned how to effectively argue my point and get across what I'm trying to say. Every belief and thought that you have and every action that you do can be backed up by reason. You can answer questions as to why you think a certain way or behave the way that you do, and English has taught me how to understand how to support my reasons. I can analyze myself as much as I can literature. I can figure out the root of the problem and fix it, just like I can write an essay supporting my stance on the meaning of a text.
Now, I bet, that to a lot of you, none of this seems all that important, and maybe you're right, but at the end of the day, I'm proud to be an English major. I love what I do and I do what I love, and I think that that's what matters, so I'm going to continue to freak out when there's a grammar mistake in a book and I'm going to continue you to point out when you use the wrong 'your' or 'you're', simply because I can. I'm also going to continue to kick ass as an English major and the next time someone simultaneously says that it will get me nowhere, and then asks for help on their essay, I'll just laugh in their face.
