and its meaning
“Names hold a big importance to all of us. They are who we are, the mark of our identity and each name is special and unique in its own way.”
enkiquotes.com
I was born in Cameroon, a country located at the heart of the African continent. In many of central African countries, the environment plays a major role in how people identities are built in the society. In our country, there is a great variety of wild animals as lions, elephant or Buffalo who are admired by local population that live around them. My parents who are from one the 253 ethnicities that compose the verity diverse Cameroonian cultural net, named me “Eboule” which means in “Bobliss”, our tribe’s dialect, Buffalo. My parents wanted to me to have the positive qualities of a Buffalo as fearlessness, strength, and resilience. And Somehow those personality traits underline who I am today.
A nickname can be worse than a name wrongly pronounced
“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.”
Isaiah 43:1 (KJV)
One of the first missions of Adam in the garden of Eden was to give names to all things that God has created. A name is what differentiates someone or something to the rest of what exist. So, calling someone by its name is also acknowledging his or her very existence. In a communication setting, calling someone by his or her name create attention and when the attention is valuated it gives place to connection and openness. A teacher that has impact into the learn process of his students is the one who has been able to create a true connection with them no matter what social cultural background they have. It is therefore important that teachers thrive to know each of his student with his name pronounced at the best possible. I remember in high school I had my Mathematics course lecturer who enjoyed calling me “Bruce” (in reference to the worldwide known actor Bruce Lee) instead of Brice. He said it will be easier for him to remember my name that way. Been called a whole school year by someone else name, just made me think that I wasn’t valued at all. I felt that he never really cares to know who I am. It was hard for me to trust him at all since I felt no connection. That situation has contributed to my underperformance in Mathematics since then.
“Ignorance and mediocrity”
“For my father, a human being’s maximum sin was to be ignorant and mediocre. Ignorance and mediocrity, he claimed, prevent people from behaving according to the highest order of integrity, honor, knowledge, and wisdom” Lustig & Koester, 2006, p. 14
Before I came to the U.S I learned via Google pretty much all the different name of the 50 states with their geographical and cultural specificities. I remember one day I had to ask my manager if he has internet shortage at home or on his phone because every day at work he will asked me questions like, “how did your family survive the genocide in 1994?” or “are you from the same village as Nelson Mandela?”. That day, after seriously confronting him with his ignorance, I discovered that in his mind he thought that Africa is just one big country with many different villages. And this was in 2017! If that still has to be call “ignorance” then we need to start thinking for a new definition to the word “mediocrity”.
References:
“Names hold a big importance to all of us. They are who we are, the mark of our identity and each name is special and unique in its own way.”
enkiquotes.com
I was born in Cameroon, a country located at the heart of the African continent. In many of central African countries, the environment plays a major role in how people identities are built in the society. In our country, there is a great variety of wild animals as lions, elephant or Buffalo who are admired by local population that live around them. My parents who are from one the 253 ethnicities that compose the verity diverse Cameroonian cultural net, named me “Eboule” which means in “Bobliss”, our tribe’s dialect, Buffalo. My parents wanted to me to have the positive qualities of a Buffalo as fearlessness, strength, and resilience. And Somehow those personality traits underline who I am today.
A nickname can be worse than a name wrongly pronounced
“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.”
Isaiah 43:1 (KJV)
One of the first missions of Adam in the garden of Eden was to give names to all things that God has created. A name is what differentiates someone or something to the rest of what exist. So, calling someone by its name is also acknowledging his or her very existence. In a communication setting, calling someone by his or her name create attention and when the attention is valuated it gives place to connection and openness. A teacher that has impact into the learn process of his students is the one who has been able to create a true connection with them no matter what social cultural background they have. It is therefore important that teachers thrive to know each of his student with his name pronounced at the best possible. I remember in high school I had my Mathematics course lecturer who enjoyed calling me “Bruce” (in reference to the worldwide known actor Bruce Lee) instead of Brice. He said it will be easier for him to remember my name that way. Been called a whole school year by someone else name, just made me think that I wasn’t valued at all. I felt that he never really cares to know who I am. It was hard for me to trust him at all since I felt no connection. That situation has contributed to my underperformance in Mathematics since then.
“Ignorance and mediocrity”
“For my father, a human being’s maximum sin was to be ignorant and mediocre. Ignorance and mediocrity, he claimed, prevent people from behaving according to the highest order of integrity, honor, knowledge, and wisdom” Lustig & Koester, 2006, p. 14
Before I came to the U.S I learned via Google pretty much all the different name of the 50 states with their geographical and cultural specificities. I remember one day I had to ask my manager if he has internet shortage at home or on his phone because every day at work he will asked me questions like, “how did your family survive the genocide in 1994?” or “are you from the same village as Nelson Mandela?”. That day, after seriously confronting him with his ignorance, I discovered that in his mind he thought that Africa is just one big country with many different villages. And this was in 2017! If that still has to be call “ignorance” then we need to start thinking for a new definition to the word “mediocrity”.
References:
Lustig & Koester, 2006, p. 14; enkiquotes.com ; Bible
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Your closing remarks about ignorance in 2017 made me chuckle. You will discover that many foreigners know a lot more about the US than those who were born in the US.
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