Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Say my name, say my name

It has been said time and again that humans love to hear the sound of their own name. Every single time you hear your own name spoken aloud, aside from the cerebral aspect of your brain activity notably increasing, it is a tiny confirmation that you exist. You are real, you matter, you are recognized, accepted, loved, missed. You belong in and to this giant universe and somehow you are relevant because you've been given your very own identity to be so.

We long to matter.

We long to be significant (even if only to one person, ever).

There is a scene in the movie "Shall We Dance" (I haven't seen the whole film, but) the speech that Susan Sarandon's character gives is quite lovely:

"We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying, 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'. "

We also seem to long for a witness.

To witness what, though?

It seems it's not so much the big events in our lives as the little, seemingly insignificant ones from which we draw our sense of belonging. And honestly, how many big events are there, really? Is it not the thousands of lesser moments that do just as much to shape our life into being? It is small moments such as these for which we seek even the tiniest bit acknowledgement or recognition.

Go out and visit or call someone you really care about today. First, don't ever assume that they know anything about how you feel about them. And even if you're not the most openly mushy or complimentary person in the world, just say their name...remind them that they are real and that you're happy they exist.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

that's beautiful :)