Richie Agonistes

From my humble beginnings in Ms. Duncan's keyboarding class in junior high school to my late night cybersex chats with college boys at the University of Houston, I've developed quite a pair of dexterous fingers when it comes to typing with proficiency. I was able to type really fast with 99% accuracy, and this achievement led me to turn off the automatic spell check function on my e-mail.

Last night I received an e-mail from a friend of mine, stating that I spelled the word 'separate' incorrectly. I forgot to put the 'e' at the end of the word, so it looked like 'separat.' Normally I wouldn't have let it get to me, but I remembered that this is the word that cost me the county spelling bee title in the fifth grade.

I was one of those smart (smartass) kids who never applied themselves and who just wanted to play video games all day. We got a list of all the words that would be used in the spelling bee, but I didn't study it in depth because I already knew all of the words. I laughed at the kids who made flash cards and I made fun of how they practiced every day. The day of the bee arrived and I blazed through all of the words. It came down to me and this other Filipino kid and the word was 'separate.' I spelled it this way: S-E-P-E-R-A-T-E

I got it wrong and I was completely taken aback. The boy had to spell it after I got it wrong and he totally dogged me as he was spelling it! When he said the A, he looked right at me, then turned to look at the audience as he spelled the rest of the word. If my eyes were pistols, I would have shot my eyeballs at him.

This massive amount of pride is what the Greeks call 'hubris.' It's the downfall of many tragic heroes in literature, including Oedipus and Samson. Now, years later, I am reminded of my hubris by that fateful word I failed to spell correctly because I was so sure that I knew it all. Is my subconscious mind telling me that I should turn my spellcheck back on? It was too late for Oedipus and Samson to save themselves from their fates, but it's not too late for me. And yes, I am being quite dramatic about this - even though there is a possibility that I was just tired and forgot to put the 'e' at the end of a word, but where's the fun in accepting that as an explanation?