"Selfie"

       "Selfie" is the word of the year according to the Oxford English Dictionary.  They just announced it.  It's a photo you take of yourself with your smartphone...a newbie for dictionary makers.

       The "ie" ending is appropriate, a diminutive affectionate suffix.  I was called "Donnie" a lot in my earliest years and through the teens.

       Of course, we are a pretty "self"-absorbed society with individualism a strong marker for our characters and life styles.  I was astonished around 50 years ago to see a new magazine called "SELF."  Really?

       The OED says "self" is of "unknown origin."  Yes, the self may be at the center of each of our lives--which we need to value.  We also need to be humble about it since we don't know, in the final analysis, whence it comes.