A Rose by any Other Name…
Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to hear a young lady perform who has the most wonderful voice. She is also a rather petite small figured (that is redundant, but it is really almost required to give you the full image of her size) young lady. She performs solo for the most and with minimum to nothing in the way of accompaniment. Somewhere here in the blog I mentioned at least one performance that I saw and I liked her so much, I followed up with a second one and purchase of a CD.
What is interesting though was that I sent some emails back and forth with her after the first performance, and while I don’t ever think we will be best friends, we have a few common interests and I will make an effort to go see her perform whenever she is somewhere close by, and I will consider her a friend because of that. Common interest obviously include she is musically inclined and I appreciate it, we both have a love for horses and truly feel we can love that feel free with them, amongst other things.
The real interest that really struck of the conversation though was when I questioned her name of Diesel. I questioned from the standpoint of why that particular moniker as a stage name. Specifically I questioned how Diesel fit her, being such petite girl with a wonderfully feminine voice. That was a very definite preconceived notion on my part. Granted I was coming from the standpoint of diesels are big dirty powerful engines and certainly not feminine nor very sexy either.
Little did I know this is what her name is, or least, as according to Diesel, it is what her Mom calls her. Further, she asked me how come I thought I had a right question how her name fit anyway. And several other subsequent emails made me realize she was right. I really did have my own world views about things that I was trying impose on her very name, whether it was a stage name or not. Really I should have just accepted it at face value with trying to read something else into it.
It has really gotten me to thinking about a lot of labels that we use for various things. I mean sure, there is the obvious from literature with Romeo and Juliet, but the different sur-name it could have been a beautiful flourishing romance. I am sure that there are many that are just as powerful in today’s world. As I am setting here, I can think of a 100 examples, but almost all of them revolve around degrading terms that I think are often tossed about by people without really knowing half the story. I could give specific examples, but I don’t think it is really necessary. After all, if everyone is in agreement and something occurs that does make for some of those terms that I hear tossed around. And I know from personal experience I have been questioned and even accused of activities that did not take place. So, I am guessing the point of all this is to just say lay off on the use of labels and terms and really just because you here a label or name, don’t let that necessarily lead you to making snap judgements or coming to the table with preconceived notions.
