NAMESAKE

My name is Hans Christian Gonzalez.   I was named after the danish children books writer Hans Christian Andersen.  For me, it has always been striking to see people's reactions whenever I introduce myself to them.  Most find it odd that someone with a spanish accent like me has a name that is very popular for people living in Germany and Denmark.   Their reactions are natural and amusing at times.  But they reveal a fundamental characteristic of human behavior:  Our learned ability of gaining familiarity through association.

Imagine, if you can,  that every time you introduce yourself to someone,  the first thing that comes out of the person's mouth is "why is your name Fernando,  Roger, or Braulio, and then, after you've told them the familiar story that you told a thousand times, their react with an expression of disbelief, followed by the question: "but why?"  I can tell you.  At first, you find it amusing, but after a while, freaking annoying.  Just because I am dominican doesn't mean my name has to be of spanish origin.  It is true that one  meaning of culture refers to the behaviors and characteristics of a particular social, ethnic or age group being similar in nature.  But that doesn't mean that we should be regarded as photocopies of one another.

In gaining familiarity through mental association,  most of us fall into the trap of stereotyping.  It doesn't matter if we do it with countries, socieities, groups, individuals or personal experiences.  The impact is always the same.  The familiar feeling of thinking that we know something when we don't.  A feeling based on assumptions or personal opinion, not on facts, or actual experience.

Some argue that this behavior stems from our survival instics.  You have a positive or negative experience with someone or something, and the mind tells you that in every future event when a particular person that resembles that character or you are about to experience a similar experience,  the exact same thing is going to happen.  If the experience was painful,  we become afraid and forbid ourselves from getting to know that person, or experiencing such event.

The statement "All Americans think that Latin people are not to be trusted" is a stereotype.  "Lots of Americans think that most, if not all spanish-speaking people have spanish names" is not.   If a person
cannot comprehend why I was named after a famous danish chidren books writer,  I say that the person has a very strong steretype of spanish-speaking people.   Think about it!  Are latin people's education limited to books written only in Latin America?  Couldn't my parents know of famous European writers born in the 19th Century?  Or are we so ignorant that all we know is to play baseball, soccer, have amazing sex or deal with drugs?

It takes a lot of guts to allow ourselves the freedom of living moment-to-moment.  Finding comfort within our ideas, traditions and beliefs are just fear mechanisms that sound great to most people.   We even have festivals and organize events to celebrate our heritage and differences.  But the world is for the  person who is not afraid of leaving their comfort zone.  Of venturing to new territories, getting to know other cultures, languages and systems of beliefs.  The world is for the few ones  that celebrate the common similarities that exists among us all.  Thereby expanding their horizons, richness of experiences,  etc.

Thanks for reading,

Hans Gonzalez.