To be, or not to be. That is the question. Or. Maybe that wasn’t the question. Perhaps, the true query is, “Who am I?”
We are a lot of things, all of us. Each of us unique And bless those people who have been able to discern their purpose in life. I have not figured mine out yet, and I’m not even sure if all of us really have one.
Regardless, I’ve always known my name, which is quite different from who I am. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been certain of how to spell Polly Cecile Kronenberger, the given name on my birth certificate.
Apparently, some people have trouble with this. William Shakespeare — Mr. 2Bnot2B — was one of them. There aren’t too many details about William Shakespeare’s life. And, if you are never sure of how his name is spelled, join the club. It is one thing historians aren’t too sure about themselves.
They aren’t sure because he didn’t seem to know either. Willy himself used variations of his name such as “Willm Shakp,” “Willm Shakspere,” and “William Shakspeare.” And the people in his day spelled it more than 80 different ways, too, including “Shappere” to “Shaxberd.” Here’s the kick in the butt. It turns out, the great writer never used “William Shakespeare.” Not even once. And this, despite the fact that it’s become the accepted spelling of his name. A rose, by any other name.
The search, the search, for who we are.
I think some people give this more consideration than others. Perhaps, needlessly. Maybe my life purpose was to open that can of grape soda for Johnny Waggerly in the third grade. And from that point on, I’ve been filling time.
Time is precious for humans, though. And this has held true since we humans began. An example. In March 2019, archaeologists in central China’s Henan Province made a big find. Reportedly the researchers found a 2,000-year-old bronze pot from a Western Han Dynasty. That good-sized pot contained 3.5 liters of a liquid. That’s just shy of a gallon. They also uncovered an ancient Taoist writing with the pot, describing the contents as an “elixir of immortality.”
When they analyzed the elixir, it was found to be a mixture of potassium nitrate and alunite. Potassium nitrate is a salt, really. It is used used in fertilizer, as a meat preservative, and as a component of gunpowder. Alunite is a mineral that was first mined to produce Alum. So. There it is.
But. We can assume the “magical elixir of life” didn’t work too well. I mean, they found it in a tomb, after all. And, in this case, time kept ticking on for those ancient folks in China. Or so we think.
We can never be quite sure, I suppose. The world is filled with mysteries and the unknown. Most of the time, we never even consider these things because getting the coffee pot going is hard enough.
One group, here in the United States, is focused on solving mysteries. They are the CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency. Their organization is so very important that they even have their own Starbucks, since we were speaking of coffee. But things don’t operate normally there.
Due to security issues, baristas do not write their names on the cups. They don’t even ask. It wasn’t always like this at the location. A supervisor there told The Washington Post that those agents wishing to be covert were feeling uncomfortable by giving names. Even if they gave fake names, like Charlie Wonkaboy. The undercover agents complained, so the coffee-dudes quit asking for names. I guess getting your skinny-tall-whipped-up-sugary-double-latte is a crapshoot in the CIA.
And so we see, what’s in a name, or isn’t.
Or what is in us, or is not in us.
As we try hard to be. Just to be.
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“If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me.”
— William Shakespeare
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“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
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A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
― Stephen Crane, War Is Kind and Other Poems
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The secret to life. And time. And coffee.
