Googling Myself

I googled my own name the other today. I was wondering if maybe I was famous and just didn't know it.

I was surprised to discover how many people share my name. Not just my first name, but first and last.

I was also surprised by my reaction to the discovery. I felt as though I had lost part of my self identity. Sure, I knew hundreds of other people shared my first name. I just wasn't ready for how many share the full name.

I got to thinking about religious sects whose members refuse to allow photographs to be taken of themselves. Reasons for the picture taking ban vary depending on the religion.

Then there were "primitive" civilizations who refused to write their names for fear the power of their names could be stolen and used against them.

I always felt that behavior of early civilizations was explained by obsession with superstition. I had more difficulty understanding the views of current religious sects.

Now I'm thinking that the two groups had and have more smarts than I gave them credit for.