We go by a lot of names…
Mom, dad, bro, sis, friend, foe, aunt, uncle, cousin, cuz, niece, nephew, grandma, grandpa, bestie, and BFF…
Engineer, astronaut, author, executive, critic, cook, customer service rep…
Actor, actress, flight attendant, and fireman…
Director, producer, priest, pastor, and salesman…
Mediator, negotiator, appliance repairman… spy, or a cool-as-a-cucumber secret agent…
Nanny, neighbor… teacher, student…
Client, patient, donor, doctor, even a volunteer.
That doesn’t count the more intangible…
Bridge-builder, helper, “the glue that holds it all together”…
Patriarch, matriarch… Leader.
Follower, believer…
Rebel, resistor…
Antagonist, protagonist…
Heroine, hero…
Rookie, veteran, pessimist, optimist, realist, and more.
Don’t forget our loyalties…
Cubs’ fan, Broncos’ fan, Duke Crazy, college basketball enthusiast…
And there’s a whole slew of those names…
Boilermakers and Bulldogs, Hilltoppers and Hurricanes (even Golden ones), not to mention the Ragin’ Cajuns and Green Wave.
We have our socio-political names…
Democrat, Republican, Libertarian… Conservative, Progressive, Socialist…
Feminist, capitalist, activist, and even the Polish Beer Lover in Poland (I kid you not).
And names identified via age…
The elderly, millennial, and Gen-Xer…
Or by our location…
Floridian, Californian, New Yorker.
Even the insults offer a name…
Bully, brute, villain, and bad guys.
We go by a lot of names.
That’s the bottom line. We can’t be identified solely by one.
Current culture seems to encourage a singular identity, i.e. “They’re just a ________!” Fill in the blank. Usually it ends with some kind of “-ist” or some kind of “-phobe.” And then that “-ist” or “-phobe” is somehow supposed to adequately explain all of another’s behavior or thinking, especially behavior and thinking that we don’t understand.
The inherent problem, however, is that one kind of name or a singular identification is inaccurate; it does not — and cannot — explain all who we are, all how we behave, and all how we think. It is not enough.
For the record (… and be prepared for my longest sentence ever here…), I am a Boilermaker, blogger, student, parent, child, friend, teacher, leader, Christian, coach, facilitator, female, John Grisham reader, administrator, donor, volunteer, Human Resource Director, mediator, special needs advocate, Hoosier, Buckeye, show choir nut, speaker, writer, work out enthusiast, cleaner, cook, encourager, loyal “Friends” rerun watcher, artist, piano player, pickle hater, pet owner, in addition to being a loyal fan of the Bengals, Reds, Gators, Colts, Packers, Pacers, and the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. I’m a fair-weather fan of many more and a zealous, unofficial member of fan clubs supporting Bon Jovi and Bruno Mars.
What’s in a name, therefore, I ask?
A lot.
But never enough.
Respectfully…
AR