In most schools, the first day is reserved for going over the lesson plans, reading the syllabus, and let’s not forget the awful, forced ice breakers where you are supposed to learn everyone’s name. As much as I disliked the foolish first-day ritual that involved me failing to memorize 20 other names in a single sitting, it was much more preferable than the teacher reading my name off of an attendance sheet. Every year I would have to awkwardly raise my hand and inform them that my name is “Mike” and not “Michael.” I didn’t choose to shorten my name just because it was fewer letters to write when I put it on my homework. I chose Mike because it was my name and an entirely different person than Michael.

I won’t bore you with the details of how it came to be, but when I placed in my grandparents’ care, in a new town full of people that I had never met before, I knew that this was my only chance at a new and better life. I wasn’t the best kid. Even at the young age I was, I knew that I would not die without regrets; that didn’t mean that I had to become those regrets. Mike was my salvation. Since I changed my name, things in my life have be exponentially better. There’s a lesser burden of the things I have done. Most of all, I shape who Mike is. The changing of my name has become a type of rite of passage. The thoughts and beliefs that Michael had were heavily influenced by my parent and my peers. Very little were my own.

So if you made it through all of that little autobiography and are wondering why I just told you all of that, I said it all for you. There are over 7 billion people on this planet. It is impossible that I am the only one that has felt like a lesser being because of my name. You don’t need to have a famous name to feel the pressure of a legacy. I just told you that my name change was brought on by my own regrets. Your change may be as simple as you need a fresh start. There is no wrong reason to prefer a different name, so long as that new name will help make you a better person. I do ask that if you do adopt a new name, make it yours. Do not introduce yourself as, “Hi, I’m Michael, but I prefer Mike.” Or “I’m Michael; Mike for short.” Of course, you will still have to sign your legal documents with your full name, but don’t let that distract you from the simple fact that you are you. You are your own person; an entity unique and unknown and glorious.

Take a moment and think real hard. Can you think of a time where you wanted to be someone else entirely? Of course you did. There has been a time where every single one of us have wanted to be not ourselves. We lacked the confidence that was stolen from us along with the innocence of youth. Some of us accepted this theft and carried on with their lives. Others fought back. We stood our ground and crafted new identities out of the fragmented pieces of our broken hearts. All of that, and then some, started with a simple choice: to keep a name bound in chains, or to forge a new one from the metal links. I always had the belief that simplicity is beautiful and after making a new name, a REAL name, for myself, I have found that it is also powerful. My friends, the next time you have to introduce yourself in class or describe who you are, do so with pride, for you are something exclusive to this world and you have found your simplistic beauty and power.

Poetic wording aside, it is my firm belief that every single one of you that is reading this, is Someone. Capital “S”. I don’t mean in the mommy’s special child sort of way. I mean in the childlike courage and confidence that you will take over this world. And I believe that you will take over this world. All of you doctors, artists, teachers, soldiers, builders; you are the ones who will watch over and guide this world into a prosperous future, with your names that you have yet to fashion. I suppose that still had a bit of poetry in the wording, but I guess that's hard to avoid with hearts le yours.