PARADOX IS BLISS!

24 October, 2007

So here we are, guys, exactly 2 weeks since my newest nephew came into (or OUT to?) the world!

It was a worldwide debate and generally a hectic confusion in those two weeks, for the parents of the new-born to basically came up with a name. I don’t know what was going on and was not much inclined to ask as to why this was. I heard from some that when you’re expecting, choosing the right name for the baby-to-be is like, the SECOND most important thing for youl; the first being the baby’s future.

Or is it the other way around? Hmm…

ANYWAY… There they both were: under a heap of names for a healthy baby-boy. Nothing sounded good. They asked me awhile ago, as I might’ve told you, about this. But I didn’t come up with anything either. This time though, after the baby’s born, did I try to assist as little as possible (since naming should be the parents’ responsibilty, I think). I came up with out-dated names first, like: Mulyadi, or Parmanto and practically anything that begins with ‘Su-’… They’re not out of their minds yet over this so they said no to all of them…

Last week my brother-in-law - the baby’s FATHER - comically suggested the Sundanese favorite ‘Kiskenda’. (LOL!!! That was hilarious. But not for any Kiskendas out there though…)

And then I tried some more with better-sounding and more up-to-date names like Raka, Mahesa, And Galih. None-shall-pass!!! they said… This was such a mind-boggling situation that it drove me to discuss this with a friend. My friend reminded the importance of avoiding silly, modern names that are basically hard to pronounce and give tons of moral loads to the bearer; names that require considerable tongue-trick skills to pronounce; names with the letters ‘-sy-’, ‘-sh-’, ‘-dz-’, ‘-zh-’, and so on. I don’t want to give examples because it might hurt those who’re already hurt enough with having names like those…

And the LENGTH!!! Modern families nowadays seem to fall for trends in long, hard-to-remember names. It’s like they were hoping that complicated names will make for smart and complicated kids. You know what? It just smartly complicated things, that’s all… Another evidence is the tendency to get stuck with names beginning with ‘A’. Another is how parents try to fit all the names their families have suggested to them, and, not wanting to let these guys down, the parents squeezed the names into something that hopefully will satisfy everyone. Life IS complicated. Yes. i understand your pain, parents. But be smart. (Hey, lookit that! smart and complicated ARE important…)

I have a modern name for you: MXYZPTLK!!! He’s smart, he’s complicated, and he’s LITERALLY out-of-this-world!!! (For non-geeks out there, MXYZPTLK is one of Superman’s C-class supervillains from the fifth dimension… Don’t ask. I may be a geek, but not a Superman geek).

Now I have to say that my family and I can finally breathe easy because they announced the name today, Sunday, October 28th, 2007. It’s a good, strong and simple name; and I’m quite relieved that the proud parents didn’t fall into any of the traps above. Now THAT’S what I call smart and complicated.

Friends and families, I humbly introduce you to

ERLANDY RIZWAN SALMAN.

May he be a Name in the world to come that do us all proud.