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MUSING
The Power and Peril of Names
About humanity’s invisible driving force and corruptor
What’s your name?
How many times have you heard that question? How many times have you introduced yourself?
Well, no one keeps count on that; it’s crazy if anyone does.
It feels trivial pondering about names, doesn’t it? They’re just one of the bricks that make the whole building we call life. They’re quite mundane that we never bother, question, or make a problem out of their existence.
Yet, in the nine months before a child’s birth, names are ever-present in the soon-to-be parents’ minds, “Should I name my child after someone? Should I search for meaningful names on the internet?”
To name is to know and remember.
That phrase from Dana Gioia’s pretty much sums up the power names have. By knowing, we, humans, are kept safe from the one thing we fear the most: the unknown.
You see that? There is even a name to name the unknown, something that’s supposed to be imageless and wordless and beyond our imagination.
And by remembering, we are given the chance to be better. The saying is ‘what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’, right? By remembering…
