Name Mispronunciation

 

Last Saturday at the Young Authors event,

I greeted one of the parents by name.

Hey, Mr. Anonymous.

He immediately corrected me on a minor mispronunciation of his name.

He’d previously done this in the car rider line, and I thought I’d corrected the pronunciation,

But my southern draw was still messing it up a bit.

He evidently didn’t like it at all.

And he wasn’t joking or being kind about it either.

He was very serious.

And it made me sad.

 

Last Friday, at the 2^nd and 3^rd grade program,

I greeted two of my students by name.

Hey, C. Hey, E.

The boy whom I had called E just sheepishly looked at me.

I could tell I’d gotten his name wrong.

I said another name.

It was wrong, too.

Finally, his sister said, “It’s D.”

And I felt so bad for getting D’s name wrong.

 

I know that names are important.

I do my best to call everyone by the right name.

But sometimes I mess up.

And when I do,

I hope for the quiet kindness that my students showed,

Rather than the judgmental condemnation of the parent.

 

I know that that parent has a lot on him.

I imagine that he carries a lifetime of hurt.

I’m trying not to judge him but to instead show him grace,

But I must admit it’s hard

When I don’t understand

The full gravity of name mispronunciation.

 

And so today, as I write this,

I breathe in the junk that I feel about saying his name wrong and being harshly corrected,

And getting my student’s name wrong,

And not being fully graceful,

And falling short in this category and so many others…

 

And I breathe out light, love, grace, and peace

To myself,

Mr. Anonymous,

You,

And all the hurting people who sometimes get things wrong in this world.

 

Amen.