Many years ago, I started a job with a university. I worked at the health sciences campus with a group of exceptional radiologists. In my first month, I wrote a memorandum to all the physicians in the group. That memorandum was mail merged and mailed to each physician. Within a week, one of them burst into my office.
“Did you write this?” he screamed.
“Yes, I composed it.” I replied.
“My name is spelled with only one L! One L!”
“Yes, sir.” I said timidly.
That was my introduction to this physician and one that I will never forget. It exemplified an experience I was bound to repeat in one way or another; not the insult of one misspelling, but the encounter with a name that defined the individual.
My surname is often misspelled. Many individuals like to spell it with an “r”, and I suppose this is because there are many more Grants in the world than there are Gants. There was a time when this would bother me but it doesn’t anymore. I kindly correct the error when I can, but I don’t repine over it until it causes me to be angry.
A name is defined by actions. Through a sufficient amount of time and effort, it begins to emanate a reputation. Care should be made in its maintenance; not in the interest of anger but in the interest of courtesy because it is courtesy that will later inspire respect.
I don’t fall under the precept that someone should get over the misspelling of their name, to just live with it. Where I fall into contemplation is when someone allows their written name to control who they are, when they stop defining their name and allow the name to define them. This often gives way to actions that cease to enrich the individual’s reputation. The reaction to the misspelling takes precedence over all other reactions. It consumes rational behavior.
Names are important. They identify us in the most fundamental way. They take shape around our actions, engendering a host of emotions in those who hear them. Spell them right and there is no mistaking whom they represent. Spell them wrong and there may be no mistaking whom they represent either.
There is a physician that I will never forget, but with his memory there will always be an unfriendly shadow behind it.
Copyright © Tyler Gant 2009
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