My dear boy,
I do not deny that I have struggled with finding the perfect nickname for myself. Oh, I think that I give the best nicknames, and I have given a lot! However, none that I choose for myself appears to stick: I am almost always morphing into something that breaks the elasticity bands of the nicknames. Perhaps, the only person who understood this, and I say this cautiously, because he was the only one to give voice to his thoughts, was Yassar Shittu. His thoughts wore a philosophical hat. He said I should give up this nickname business. “E no suit you.”
See, I think that Shittu is strong. What he did required strength. The kind with which Jacob wrestled the angel. Of course, he’s not without proof. Shittu fought albinism and won, and he has the freckles to show it.
You see, Shittu and I have this deep respect for each other. Although I could never tell all that Shittu was thinking, I could trust him to look out for me, if you cared to examine his actions. We understood early that we were simply two young men pitched against each other by the elements of life for the entertainment of the gods of this world. I guess it’s always true that one should not hate the player but the game.
Well, names are clothes that you can either grow into or grow out of. I would like to think that nicknames are but little costumes cut out of the fabric of your name. I strongly believe that we can’t morph into anything other than that which was written into our DNA from time afore. And with age, we understand that just as the oceans will never overflow their boundaries, likewise we can’t outflow our bloodLINES. There’s always a consequence to pay. It therefore follows that names are either prophecies or testimonies to the fact. Notwithstanding, names are not without stories, however alien they may sound.
Frank Clinton is a man of many interests who has found nicknames to be tools for the expression of different personalities in pursuance of specific interests. By the way, I think titles are nothing but nicknames in a suit. Shakespeare agrees in his poem, “All the World’s a Stage.” However, he likens nicknames to different stages in a man’s life. These nicknames, he calls “parts,” and a man has many. In The Wire, the dynamics surrounding the functionalities of nicknames are explored. Watch it.
I could very well stop here; nevertheless, it is sacrosanct to establish that naming is a skill. You can learn it. To name a thing is a process that calls to the fore ownership status. A person who owns understands what is owned: knows enough history to make a testimony, and has a vision that can be prophesied. What about the present? The present is always a constant- the point where the past and the future kiss.
Consider God’s naming formula. He names the first man “Adam.” It literally means “man.” A silent loud permission to become with an imprint of his origin. Hence, my boy, we dare to argue that a good name acknowledges one’s origin (history) whilst giving them enough room to become. Say, a loose tether of the sort.
In all, my boy, the one who names is the one who owns; hence, to accept a name is a quiet agreement to submit.
Love,
Dad.
