What is your name?

When someone asks you what your name is, what do you say?  Do you consider why they are asking? Do you wonder how they will respond? Do you think about what your name means? Do you realize that your words have power? When you take a moment to say to the person(s) asking, you are confirming/acknowledging to the world, that you are here.

Without thinking you immediately you say your first name.  You try not to mumble your name.  You try to make good eye contact.  You may push your shoulders back.  You might hold your head high.  You may even speak with confidence.  And they respond, however they respond... The way they respond is not always because of having possibly have heard that name before.  Their response is not always because it is a strange name that they have never heard.  Their response may be because of their state of mind.  In a fundamental way, they respond however, they respond.

The thing that you may want to consider is not how the person(s) asking, will respond, but how you want the world to respond when you stand tall and declare who you are here and that you have come to make a major impact.  You may want to realize that you aren't just talking to the person standing in front of you but also to those who came before you.  You are standing on the shoulders of people who have laid down their lives to make room for you, to clear a path that you are now walking down.  Say your name with confidence, not because of who you are now, but because of who you are becoming.

Let me take a moment to say my name.  I am Michael, son of Robert (father, educator, and entrepreneur) and Dorothy (mother, educator). Brother of Robert (athlete, entrepreneur). Grandson of Julius (laborer, railway worker) and Alice (laborer). Grandson of Bessie (educator, Silver Haired Legislature), etc.  It's nice to meet you and your name is?