n5lp
fugio ergo sum
I recently made a post about a flight with this woman who had never flown in a small airplane before. It turns out she is thoughtful. After the flight she asked me if my airplane had a name. I told her that it doesn't really. I made a stab at that but it never really took, although Doug Reeves has used it a few times. I also mentioned that it is just an inanimate object.
Today I got this e-mail from another location along her travel route, slightly edited for English not being her first language. Some good points there.
I thought more about the topic of names...
There is always a story behind names, both of persons and of "things", and sometimes it's not easy to find the right names... but every time man has discovered something new, he has named it. I think it's a way to say "I know what it is, it is not something unknown anymore"
We need names because we need to feel the world around us as something we can understand.
So throughout history, people have named mountains, peaks, rivers, caves,.... each little corner of the earth has gotten its name. But we also give names to cats, dogs, horses... Anything with which we have a kind of relationship. That's the reason why people don't give a name to an animal who is going to be killed and eaten; they avoid it just because a name would create a kind of relationship that they don't want to have with that animal.
In the case of your airplane, even if you think it is an "inanimate" object (i don't think so...), in my opinion you do have a relationship with it. You know it and you are even its creator! It takes you a long time and much energy and knowledge to build it, so it represents something really important in your life. It also gives you great emotions and allows you .... to fly!
I strongly believe it deserves a name!
Wow!