What’s n a Name?

At my previous job selling Newspapers etc. in a kiosk at a Railway Station, I got to meet many people, even if only very briefly every morning. One of them was a young man who seemed to respond to my special sense of humour and so one day I decided to ask him his name, seeing that we ”Chat” every morning. When he told me his name, I had trouble believing him, as I had a mental stereotype in my head of people called Andréa.
Firstly, if not French, they would obviously be foreigners, and certainly tall and dark and if not handsome certainly Sauvé and sophisticated. Well my new friend was none of those things, and covered from the neck down as far as I could see, with tattoos. So the next day when I spoke to him again, I told him that I had trouble believing that his name was Andréa and he stunned me when he said, “And I can’t believe my parents called me Andréa in the first place.”
This led me to thinking, not just about the names we give our children, but also of the other quirks and habits that we pass on to our children and others, either intentionally or unintentionally.
I am not talking about the good things that we wish to pass onto them and others but am talking about the not so good things that we say and do. Remembering that some of the things we do, like the naming of our children, last all their lives. Thus I can’t help but wonder how much real care do we really take with what we are passing on to others?
I am still thinking through this, so what are your thoughts on the matter please?

You’re Leaving This For That?

Well here I am 3 months into my new job and day dreaming about some of the ‘Memories” of the old job. My last week or so at the Kiosk at the Railway Station was an interesting and emotional time for me. A very humbling one too, as I never realized how appreciative people would be for what really is little more than a smile and a cheery greeting. Because of the circumstances, there are no deep and meaningful conversations there, so I usually did a little stirring and people seem to love it. (In fact I even had one lady who I would swear that I had never seen before, jokingly rebuke me for not abusing her like I had the previous customer, whom I knew very well!)

You see I had a very good and easy rapport with the majority of my former customers. Although I’ve never had a religious discussion with any of them, I had never hidden my Christianity, and especially so when asked what I did on the weekend, so everyone knew I was “Religious” but that never stopped them from chatting with me about what I did ‘last weekend”.

One young chap during my last week there, that usually stirred me un-mercifully about my support of the Tigers, came up and overheard me say to someone else that I was leaving and I gave him a card as he left hurriedly to catch the train. The next morning I put out a few cards on the bench for anyone to take. Well this young bloke came back saw the cards on the bench and started to get stuck into me in his normal manner about advertising myself on company time. So I told him the reason for the cards (As in the June Blog, What Do I Do with This?) and his reply stunned me as he said, “You’re leaving this to do that?” He went on to say that he knew all about my Church activities but that he had no idea I was quitting this part-time job to take up that job full-time. He was equally stunned too!

As one couple have always given me a Christmas present and since they found out about my Christianity, one at Easter too, so I was expecting a present from them, and maybe one or two others. Well one of the others, was this young man above (which was most definitely not expected). Again I was floored by his appreciation of me, when again all I have ever done for him has been the above friendly smile and ‘Cheery abuse” each morning.

Again I am amazed at how little one has to do to be appreciated. It is both humbling and frightening that so little can be so appreciated and it makes me wonder how unfriendly the rest of the their world is.

So all that is left to ask is, what is it that you are currently doing, as small as it may be, to encourage others? And how can you improve on that without trying to dominate others.

Remember, a cheery smile and warm hello can make a world of difference to some people! So why not give it ago your self and let me know how it went after a few months. Walter