KARL SPOKESMAN

I grew up wanting to be many things. I thought my football skills will soar me high, then I imagined I could become the world’s greatest inventor, I dreamed what It would be like to be the best pilot and then an unrivaled public speaker, I thought it would be awesome to be a very powerful pastor or a leader of international repute. I had so many things in mind that caught my fancy as I grew through life’s stages.

For all the things I wanted to become, I knew famous people who were associated with the field and for the renowned people, professions and organisations I have come to know there was always a name attached to them and the name always made good sense. A lot of sense. In fact, once the name is called, you could feel the power and fame that surrounded it. I needed a name. A name that people would respect and adore.

I cannot say for sure what my naming ceremony looked like. I have no proof that there was one held in my honour. Naming ceremonies seem to be a norm these days but I am not certain of what yesteryears held in vogue. Though I am not sure of the ceremony, I am sure and definite that I was named and I am well named. I have a name but how befitting did I see it to be? Will the name become famous?

My names as far as I am concerned are not a common combination to come by. The meanings they portray are very deep for me and so far, they have helped form my being all these years. Each one name is special to me and I hold them in deep awe but having such mentality has caused me what I would call an identity crises.

When I found out I could express myself in writings, I wanted a stage name. One that would sell me and make me famous. Did I get one? Read on.

I learnt the skill of doctoring computers and it dawned on me that I could float a company and it would rise sky high. I thought of how the names Ford, Mercedes, Dell, Hewlett Packard and others came to being. I knew they were named after the pioneers or founders of the company and today we have made them household names. I wanted to be thus named. I wanted to be famous so I sought a name that would sell.

I had foreknowledge that people find it hard to pronounce my native name and I didn’t want a name that would be mispronounced and murdered. I also had this idea that English names sell more and sounded more acceptable in the international community than a local name. I decided to act on the knowledge.

I got to know that my English name “Charles” had variations. “Carlos” in Mexican and “Karl” in German. I picked for “Karl”. Furthermore, the translation of my surname “Onuoha” literally means “mouth of the community” so I translated that to mean “the people’s speaker” or “Spokesman”. I felt good when I was done with my research and reconstruction. I had a name that would sell. One that people who didn’t value me would respect once they hear it. I was Karl Spokesman.

It sounded so cool. A film by Karl Spokesman. Written by Karl Spokesman. The Karl Spokesman Series. Featuring… Karl Spokesman. I was head over myself with my new found stage name. Now I was ready to take on the world and become famous but then I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I really didn’t know what I should venture into. I was still going to be undiscovered despite my sweet name. Oh my, oh my!

I worried over what I would attach the name to. It went well as an author but what do I write. I would be very wonderful on the cover of a movie but what do I know about acting and stage performance. I was really sad that my effort didn’t solve the real matter. I worried for a long time about what I could do to make Karl Spokesman famous. Then it dawned on me that the name didn’t really make those great men famous. Then I thought to myself “What did?”

In the schools I happened to go through, nicknames were given based on circumstances, behaviour, attitude, performance and situations. I do not remember someone that was nicknamed from the blues. Now that was a pointer for me. I had a nickname in school and I know why I was called that. I replayed all the names I knew and I laughed at my foolishness.

Everyman makes a name for himself, no one really names themselves per say. We make names by what we do and what we do not do. It doesn’t matter the name you bear, once you do what wows others then you would see your person lend a face to the name that has been so long ignored.

It took me some time to learn and that was after I had given up the planned naming ceremony for Karl Spokesman. I had gotten busy with life and I had learnt things and discovered what I could do well and then I found the names coming in. some I liked, others I loathed. I got to learn that one shouldn’t seek fame but how to make his world a better place. That alone gives a name that lives beyond the individual.

Names like Mother Theresa, Bill Gates, Donald Trump and other people who became what the world has come to accept simply by doing what they knew to do well. Yes, they may have concocted a name but what made them known to others and the world at large was what they were involved with or what solutions they provided the world with. That is the bane of making a name. He that would provide a solution to people’s problems would definitely bear a name that must in time be known.

A wise man literally stepped in front of me as I made calculated moves to publish my first completed book. He said, “Charles, a man should live a life before he writes something worth reading”. This was what I translated it to mean;

Live before you write.

Practice before you profess.

Embody before you establish.

Those words slowed me down and knowing the adage that says “haste maketh waste”, I knew that taking those words to heart would place me in foundations stronger that what I had laid before. I decided to lie low, to bend down and get busy. I vowed no longer to make a name rather to make a difference. I would seek solutions to problems. I would offer suggestions to situations and do the research I could afford to educate myself and the ones I encounter.

Today, I know that making a name is even a distraction and making a difference is an attraction that cannot be contained. When some people say I do what I do to make myself famous, hence making a name for myself. Well, if they live in my past, they may just be right!  I normally wonder why they don’t do the same thing if they think it is that affordable to do but most times I am too busy to notice them and you know why…?

I am too occupied making a difference to argue about whether I am making a name for myself or not. Dear reader, what are you making?