My name is Joe, short for Joseph. It is one of the most famous names, as it comes from the Bible, the name of the father of Jesus, the most famous name of all. It is also used as the term for the average guy, or an "average Joe". It is also a nickname for one of the most popular drinks in the world coffee, as in a "cup of Joe".
Joseph is a serious name to me, formal like a title like Pharoah, or Prophet. It is as serious as death, it denotes the separation and demarcation between I, and the rest of the world. Joe, and Joseph look strange to me on paper, even stranger when I hear these sounds in my ear, as if I have to remind myself that someone is calling me by the name someone chose for a newborn son some decades ago. And it seems at times I almost forget these syllables are somehow attached to me.
Joseph comes from the Hebrew "Yosef", meaning "he will add" (www.behindthename.com). Joseph in the Bible is the father of Christ, and later saint. The Bible also mentions Joseph as the son of Jacob in the Book of Genesis, and the name of the tribe that he originated (Wikipedia.org). The Bible also mentions a Joseph of Arimathea, who "according to the Gospels was a wealthy man "who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after the crucifixition" (Wikipedia.org). I got it from my grandfather, Joseph Fex, my father's father. Many people call me Joe for short, assuming a familiarity that I am not always comfortable with, and every once in awhile someone calls me Josephine, either in jest or in seriousness. I think my name is very neutral as far as masculinity or femininity goes, as many women can be called Jo, short for Joan, or Joanne. My name is unique, I couldn't imagine having any other.
The name Joseph is one of the most recognizeable names from the Bible, and being given this name urges one to create something world changing, larger than oneself, outlasting one's lifetime for eons, signifying to later generations that I was here, and that I was worth something. And somehow I must create this thing that grows and chafes within me, strangling me from the inside out for release, urging to be given form, and having life breathed into it before this thing named Joe someday dissolves into microscopic particles, and disperses itself forever across the four winds, reclaimed once again by the universe to be used as parts for other things that form, and separate.
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