Whats in a name?
Lets name the planets in our solar systems,Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and the last but not the least Pluto! Oh wait... that right, Pluto isnt a 'real' planet anymore.
Just in case you havent heard, Pluto is officially NOT a planet anymore, not even a dwarf one. It really tells you something about our false sense of security when even something as celestial as Pluto can be 'demoted' of its title. To many of us, Pluto will always be that smallest, coldest and furthest rebel of a planet in our little system. No matter what the text books or the astronomers say, we cant help but still think of it as a planet. But to those growing up now, minds still fresh like lettuce ready to soak up knowledge like a sponge, they wont think it is anymore. When we are old and greying, no matter how hard we try they will say "YES grandpa, i believe you. OF COURSE Pluto is a planet." with eyes rolling, thinking "Alzheimers...."
We will always think Pluto is a planet because thats what we have been told almost all our life. We have accepted in, taken it as a never changing fact, like how the sun always rises in the east. Our young will think we are wrong because they were told something else, Pluto is not a planet and the sun rises in the west, if ever they decided the north pole wasnt north anymore.
The point Im trying to come to, but not making a good job of is, to a certain extent, we are what we name ourselves to be. Call yourself a planet long and often enough, people will start to treat you like one, give you your due respect, even if you are just a dwarf, planet. But the moment you let that go, people go "Oh, Pluto, yes, that comet circling the earth." The feelings concerning the subject are different because we call it something else, something lesser.
Its easy to label the people around us, and also easy to label ourselves things. How does that old lady washing dishes in the diner sound? What about that widowed mother of 4 trying to make ends meet? How you name people reflects how you see things and how others in turn see things. Whats in a name some ask. A rose is a rose by any other name Shakespeare might say. You know the Bougainvillea flower? I bet you'd see it in new light once you know the Malay word for it is Bunga Tahi Ayam which literally means Chicken Shit Flower. I kid you not.
So whether you call it Bougainvillea or Bunga Tahi Ayam really affects how you and others form your impressions. SOOO... the point im trying to make here is, give nice names to the people and things around you. More importantly, give YOURSELF good names. This applies to everyone, but i want to emplasize with the ladies. I know many women (almost all i know) think they arent beautiful enough. You might feel so, but stop saying "Look at my giant elephantitis thighs." It makes you feel worse, and God forbid, someone might actually say "I agree with you." Say "My large mascular thighs.".... and people will say "I'd hate to get in your way."
When you degrade yourself in name, you erode your confidence further. When you call yourself fat, stupid, ugly, stubborn, useless, people might turn at you and think "Maybe you are right." Afterall, who better to judge you than yourself? But when you say you are strong headed, unique or smart, people MIGHT just say "Maybe you are right."
Back to Pluto, i cant help but feel the future generations wont quite see Pluto the same as we do. To them, it is just another celestial body that orbits the sun. It wont be one of the BIG 9 (or 8 in this new case). It probably wont even be worth remembering. But to us, in was important enough to be printed in books, to be memorized, and to be studied and photographed. There was more respet given because a PLANET had a special status than other bodies.
But when you think about it carefully, the difference is only in a name. That name is more powerful than we realise, and im glad to say, we are do different.
posted by Compulsive Blogger @ 6:17 pm
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