In my junior years, I studied with a boy called Judas. Every student hated the poor fella, not because he was a bad kid, but for the mere fact that he was called Judas. Shakespeare was once asked, “What is a name?” He sure knew the answer because he neatly penned down his name under the quote. A name is nothing without a person behind it. That’s why the dead do not have names. They are all called ‘deceased’. A person is also nothing without character and character is built from ones deeds.
In my junior years, I studied with a boy called Judas. Every student hated the poor fella, not because he was a bad kid, but for the mere fact that he was called Judas.
Shakespeare was once asked, "What is a name?” He sure knew the answer because he neatly penned down his name under the quote.
A name is nothing without a person behind it. That’s why the dead do not have names. They are all called ‘deceased’. A person is also nothing without character and character is built from ones deeds.
Often, parents give their children big names, names that made history, famous names like; Da Vinci, Newton, Lincoln, Solomon et cetera. However, Da Vinci does not mean impeccable artist, Newton does not mean Superb Scientist nor does Solomon mean great leader. All these verbs we call names are just words. Words that were given to our fore fathers for easy recognition. It is not those words that we call names that are important, it’s the people carrying those words that are important. These people are only important because of their deeds.
Just as a tree is known by its fruits, so is a man by his deeds. Instead of saying that deeds are the person of a name, it would be nearer the mark to say that deeds are the architect of a name. Joseph, Cleopatra, Michael Jackson, Nelson Mandela are not known because they had beautiful names or because they had long names. They are known solemnly because of their deeds.
Shakespeare could have been given any other name for all we care, but still his name could have been given to any other person who probably me would have been known universally. Just because of this deeds in the literature world he was popular. In my opinion, it is not our names that define us but, it is our deeds that define us.
Back to my school days, I feel sorry for the poor kid, Judas who was hated for his name simply because the person who once held that name in the Bible—Judas Iscariot—did a despicable, grotesque deed.
A wise man once said, "A good name is more precious than having ten cities.” He did not mean that a good name is one that sounds nice or rhythmic; neither did he mean that it is one that contains all the vowels. He simply meant good deeds. Deeds are the building blocks of a name, without deeds, a name is nothing.