I grew up wanting to be many
things. I thought my football skills will soar me high, then I imagined I could
become the world’s greatest inventor, I dreamed what It would be like to be the
best pilot and then an unrivaled public speaker, I thought it would be awesome
to be a very powerful pastor or a leader of international repute. I had so many
things in mind that caught my fancy as I grew through life’s stages.
For all the things I wanted to
become, I knew famous people who were associated with the field and for the renowned
people, professions and organisations I have come to know there was always a
name attached to them and the name always made good sense. A lot of sense. In
fact, once the name is called, you could feel the power and fame that
surrounded it. I needed a name. A name that people would respect and adore.
I cannot say for sure what my
naming ceremony looked like. I have no proof that there was one held in my
honour. Naming ceremonies seem to be a norm these days but I am not certain of
what yesteryears held in vogue. Though I am not sure of the ceremony, I am sure
and definite that I was named and I am well named. I have a name but how
befitting did I see it to be? Will the name become famous?
My names as far as I am concerned
are not a common combination to come by. The meanings they portray are very
deep for me and so far, they have helped form my being all these years. Each
one name is special to me and I hold them in deep awe but having such mentality
has caused me what I would call an identity crises.
When I found out I could express
myself in writings, I wanted a stage name. One that would sell me and make me
famous. Did I get one? Read on.
I learnt the skill of doctoring
computers and it dawned on me that I could float a company and it would rise
sky high. I thought of how the names Ford, Mercedes, Dell, Hewlett Packard and
others came to being. I knew they were named after the pioneers or founders of
the company and today we have made them household names. I wanted to be thus
named. I wanted to be famous so I sought a name that would sell.
I had foreknowledge that people
find it hard to pronounce my native name and I didn’t want a name that would be
mispronounced and murdered. I also had this idea that English names sell more
and sounded more acceptable in the international community than a local name. I
decided to act on the knowledge.
I got to know that my English
name “Charles” had variations. “Carlos” in Mexican and “Karl” in German. I picked
for “Karl”. Furthermore, the translation of my surname “Onuoha” literally means
“mouth of the community” so I translated that to mean “the people’s speaker” or
“Spokesman”. I felt good when I was done with my research and reconstruction. I
had a name that would sell. One that people who didn’t value me would respect
once they hear it. I was Karl Spokesman.
It sounded so cool. A film by
Karl Spokesman. Written by Karl Spokesman. The Karl Spokesman Series.
Featuring… Karl Spokesman. I was head over myself with my new found stage name.
Now I was ready to take on the world and become famous but then I didn’t know
what I wanted to do. I really didn’t know what I should venture into. I was
still going to be undiscovered despite my sweet name. Oh my, oh my!
I worried over what I would
attach the name to. It went well as an author but what do I write. I would be
very wonderful on the cover of a movie but what do I know about acting and
stage performance. I was really sad that my effort didn’t solve the real
matter. I worried for a long time about what I could do to make Karl Spokesman famous.
Then it dawned on me that the name didn’t really make those great men famous.
Then I thought to myself “What did?”
In the schools I happened to go
through, nicknames were given based on circumstances, behaviour, attitude,
performance and situations. I do not remember someone that was nicknamed from
the blues. Now that was a pointer for me. I had a nickname in school and I know
why I was called that. I replayed all the names I knew and I laughed at my
foolishness.
Everyman makes a name for
himself, no one really names themselves per say. We make names by what we do
and what we do not do. It doesn’t matter the name you bear, once you do what wows others then you would see your
person lend a face to the name that has been so long ignored.
It took me some time to learn and
that was after I had given up the planned naming ceremony for Karl Spokesman. I
had gotten busy with life and I had learnt things and discovered what I could
do well and then I found the names coming in. some I liked, others I loathed. I
got to learn that one shouldn’t seek fame but how to make his world a better
place. That alone gives a name that lives beyond the individual.
Names like Mother Theresa, Bill
Gates, Donald Trump and other people who became what the world has come to
accept simply by doing what they knew to do well. Yes, they may have concocted
a name but what made them known to others and the world at large was what they
were involved with or what solutions they provided the world with. That is the
bane of making a name. He that would provide a solution to people’s problems
would definitely bear a name that must in time be known.
A wise man literally stepped in
front of me as I made calculated moves to publish my first completed book. He
said, “Charles, a man should live a life before he writes something worth
reading”. This was what I translated it to mean;
Live before you write.
Practice before you profess.
Embody before you establish.
Those words slowed me down and
knowing the adage that says “haste maketh waste”, I knew that taking those
words to heart would place me in foundations stronger that what I had laid
before. I decided to lie low, to bend down and get busy. I vowed no longer to
make a name rather to make a difference. I would seek solutions to problems. I would
offer suggestions to situations and do the research I could afford to educate
myself and the ones I encounter.
Today, I know that making a name
is even a distraction and making a difference is an attraction that cannot be
contained. When some people say I do what I do to make myself famous, hence
making a name for myself. Well, if they live in my past, they may just be
right! I normally wonder why they don’t do
the same thing if they think it is that affordable to do but most times I am
too busy to notice them and you know why…?
I am too occupied making a
difference to argue about whether I am making a name for myself or not. Dear reader,
what are you making?
Gen 11:4,8 And they
said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches into the sky,
and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the whole
earth...
So the Lord scattered them abroad from that place upon the face of the whole earth, and they gave up building the city. (AMP)
Php 2:8-9 Christ was
humble. He obeyed God and even died on a cross. Then God gave Christ the
highest place and honored his name above all others. (CEV)