What is In a Name?

What is in a name? Identity? Familiarity? Knowledge? A name is nothing more than a label that we give something. Sometimes it seems as if a name is only a simple title, but I do not find this to be true. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," but a rose does not have the ability to make decisions. A rose is not aware that it even has a name. And a rose by another name would confuse people. After all, it is of names of people that I am speaking of now. The tongue has a curious power; the words it speaks have the capacity to influence people. Names are words, but most of us are simply ignorent of their meaning. A title can control your life, if not only sway your disposition slightly. Although this is not true in every case, I have found that my name is a fairly large part of my nature. But a name is more than a temperament; it is a badge. Some dislike and disdain their names, but I hold mine in high regard. It was given to me by my parents, the name of my father, and I plan to pass it on to my son. Titles have the potential to inspire faith in a person if connected with the idea of a man or woman of strength and dignity. Names hold power stronger that most are aware and many are willing to credit. So, do not look down on your name or its meaning. Pick it up out of the dirt, dust it off, and put it on a shelf for all to see. Be glad to have a title by which people can recognize you. Be proud of your identity.

Selfishness (Spoken Word)

My Selfishness is a shell that I wear on my back
It's a shield from my cares, worries, dreams, thoughts, friends, family, love, attack.
I duck and I hide and I cower behind an image of myself constructed by myself for reasons not even I am fully aware of
For I want to love
But I am Selfish 
For I wish to care
But I am Selfish 
For I want to believe
But I am Selfish 
For I wish . . .

For I am the sum of me
Myself added up together, my soul, my mind, my body, my, my, my, my, my . . .
But truth be told,  I flee from myself
I love myself so much that I hate me.

Apathy is sword I use to strike down, DEAD, the thoughts which inch me towards the boundaries of my comfort
I put on the hat of an actor and I act like I DO NOT CARE
But no matter who I am fooling, I am not fooling me.
Life is unjust and though the masses scream, "THIS IS NOT FAIR."
I sit by with glazed eyes and a broken heart staring off into nothing so I do not have to look into the faces of the hurting.
Because I too know pain, and I too was once dying of a hemorrhage of emotion
But my ID took over my SUPEREGO damaging my EGO in the motion
Now I sit by as life shifts past
doing what is pleasing to me
but the longer I waste my heart loses hope that at last my mind will see.

For I am the sum of me
Myself added up together with my soul, my mind, my body, my, my, my, my, my . . .
But truth be told, I flee from myself
I love myself so much that I . . . hate . . . me.