Do you recognize these names ?
This first one might take you back a few years to the 'King of the Cowboys'; if you had said 'Roy Rogers', ok. But would you have known 'Leonard Slye'?
How about . . . Marion Morrison ? (John Wayne). Or John Dussenburger (John Denver). And the one that some have speculated had the name not been changed from Adolph Schikellgruber there might not have been a Nazi Party and hence no World War II (Adolph Hitler).
A few years ago there was a young man named Michael Jordan playing in a college basketball tournament. He was not the same MJ who played for UNC and the Chicago Bulls. And he was about 4 years old when UNC won the national championship in 1982. Understandably, he took a lot of teasing. Why not change it?
He said the name was given him by his mother and to change it would be like slapping her.
Beginning as children, one of the first things we ask someone: "What's your Name?". Persons at gatherings wear tags with a greeting like: "Hello. My Name is _________". Baptismal liturgies often include the question: "What Name is to be given this child ?"
And, wedding liturgies, "I (NAME) take you (NAME) to be my wedded __________"
NAME can convey a Basis Identity . . .Who We Are. . . and "represent" us and distinguish us from others. Should you doubt that, just notice what happens within yourself when somebody mispronounces yours or calls you by an incorrect Name.
Never give a person a first name by which they will not be addressed. When I am called "William", I know that it is either by someone "official" or someone who does not know me. Once I was with my mom in a medical waiting area when the nurse paged her by her first name and we almost missed the call. And, I have never understood why her sister Ruth had a gravestone indicating that "Esther" was interred there. We want to be called by our own Name because we have become what we were named . . . We are our NAMES.
And, then, our Name can connect us with family . Our extended family is probably not unusual in having children carry part of their ancestors' names. Further, our names also suggest what our fore bearers did to make a living: Baker, Smith, Carpenter, Cooper, Miner, etc.
Do you think that I am making too much of this "Name" business? Consider: Several years ago, a client told me that her eldest daughter had been named for her husband's former girl friend. That's reminiscent of what a woman, who as an adult, learned that her father had also named her for a girlfriend he had while still married to her mother. She changed that first name and by doing so was able to put to rest a number of family issues.
Shakespeare wrote that a rose by another name would have the same fragrance, perhaps suggesting that name does not matter. Johnny Cash's song, A Boy Named Sue, would suggest otherwise.
So, I believe we need to be respectful with someone else's name as well as with our own. When greeting a new client, I say something like "I go by Ron. How do you prefer to be addressed? My mom told us not to to call someone by their first name without permission."
Let's take it a step further. Our Name can convey a sense of purpose, what we believe we are called to be and/or do. For example the Old Testament story of Abram and Sarai who had become their Names, her especially. In a culture that honored childbearing, she had no children and her Name meant Mocked.
After many years, God's promise of many descendants became reality and Sarai became Sarah, or Princess. And he became known as Abraham, literally Father of a multitude of nations.
By the way, when she as an old woman heard that she would have a child, she laughed and the son was named Laughter, or, in their language, Isaac.
Allow me to segue briefly onto a larger arena for a connection between Name and Purpose. Regardless of your political affiliation and vote in the recent Presidential election, I sense there is a need for deep reflection about our NAMES and PURPOSE in current America. Without delving into the whole matter of "American Exceptionalism", over the years our people have held some rather lofty and hopeful Names and aspirations for this country, among them : "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave";
"We hold these Truths to be Self-Evident, that all [people] are created equal . . . ";
"We the People . . . ";
"Democracy" ;
"In order to form a more perfect Union . . . ";
"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal . . ." . . . and these Names have been lived out in many impressively compassionate ways, domestically and internationally.
In his 1941 State of the Union Address as war was already encroaching upon this country, President Roosevelt articulated the "Four Freedoms": freedom of speech, of worship; freedom from want and from fear. He continued, "As men do not live by bread alone, they do not fight by armaments alone" and he further spelled out the benefits of democracy: economic opportunity, employment, social security, and the promise of adequate health care. (Yes. Just as we have not always lived up to our individual Names, there are far too many illustrations of times when America has failed to live by our national Ideals)
In his Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln noted the huge test posed by the Civil War as to whether "this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure." During these times, I believe that his concluding words can help us remember and live our National Name: "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people , by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
I have met persons who sadly could respond to the calling of their Name but had lost their memories and with that, their Identity.
Two words point to such a phenomenon . . . Amnesia and Identity Crisis. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Identity Crisis indicates a "state of confusion in an institution or organization regarding its nature and direction." And, a Mayo Clinic site defined Amnesia as "a loss of memories, such as facts, function, and experience" and that while such persons are usually lucid and know who they are they "may have trouble learning new information and forming new memories."
So that our Name --- identity and purpose --- not be forgotten, I suggest that we often look to our National Birth Certificate ---the Constitution adopted after the successful War for Independence.
 |
| Our National Birth Certificate |
Satchel
