rainydaynews

I am all in favor of freedom of expression. My livelihood and my happiness as well as my entertainment and much more are tied to that mythical freedom perhaps endowed on Americans by the Burger Court in the 1960s and 1970s.

However, I am also in favor of responsibility and common sense. Too often, lately, it seems that one cannot engage in freedom of expression and still exhibit responsibility and common sense. Some is done in the name of art. Don‘t get me started on Piss Christ and other so-called artwork meant to cause shock and get talked about rather than add anything of artistic merit to the world.  What was the artist’s contribution to societal advancement? Oh yeah, it was pay me for shocking people and offending people’s religious beliefs.

Remember when art was used to uphold people’s beliefs? Sure, that was during the Renaissance, but still, there’s a reason those artists are considered the best of all time.

Anyway, back to the concept of freedom and responsibility. Recently, an unmarried couple friends of mind were anticipating the birth of their first child together. Neither of them has particularly flattering surnames and neither intended to take the others or even get married. So they debated creating a new last name for their child. The name would have been something completely unique and made up just for him.

I thought this was the dumbest idea I had ever heard. Thankfully, the father remembered what it was like to be a child and have other children pick apart every little thing they could to mock you about. The eventually decided on his last name.

Thankfully they came to their senses, but the list of parents that don’t is quite amazing. I know another couple with a newborn son that they name Verity Azul. The poor child also has the name of the patron saint of his birthday added in their too, but apparently his parents, who want to have many children wanted to include a trait they hope the child will have and a color and a saint name in the given name of their children. Obviously, neither of them was mocked enough as a child to anticipate the emotional scarring this will inflict on their child.

Sadly thought, this is not the worst offender. When I worked in a doctor’s office, we had a patient whose mother named her “America”, spelled just like the continents. But when the office staff called the child by the pronunciation, the mother haughtily corrected us that her daughter’s name was “AmerEEEka”. She seemed offended that we read it as it was spelled.

We’ve all heard jokes about parents who do this to their children, but nobody ever did anything about it until now. Today, a judge in New Zealand legally changed the name of a girl whose parents rthought “Talula does the Hula in Hawaii” was an appropriate name for their child. In the midst of a custody suit, the judge chastised the parents and legally changed the girl’s name. She had been so embarrassed by the name, she refused to use it or tell it to anyone. She told people to call her “K”.

On the one hand, I am offended that the legal system got involved and changed this child’s name. But I am more offended by her parents. I think the judge may have missed the mark by changing the child’s name. Perhaps he should have assigned equally ridiculous names to her parents and then sent them back to junior high school.

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