the most important WORD to you

There was this lady with such fine dark skin, long smooth natural hair and a captivating figure that caught my eye one time. She carried an enigmatic personality wherever she went, or at least where I found her. Quickly, I learned her name, but I maintained composure until the right circumstance to meet her myself. That time came, but I didn't expect what would happen when I mentioned her name.

"Oh, wow. He knows my name!" She remarked subtly to her friend beside her yet loud enough for me to hear. A few conversations later, I figured that she had been keeping an eye on me just as I was. That was fine, but that she was astonished that I actually noticed her surprised me. Humble me? Oh well. But then I could relate. She mentioned mine softly that I could have given her half my kingdom.

While I may have just been 18 at that time and filled with infatuation, it dawned on me over the years that, really, there's something about a person's name to them. It's similar to when a stranger meets me for the first time and mentions my name. Considering that I'm not exactly famous, I'd wonder a bit.

One of the simple things that people tend to ignore in actually connecting with people is the most important word to those people in any language. But sadly, many people say that they're bad at keeping this one thing in mind and then miss a key component in substantially making a connection.

If you don't remember my name once, twice, and thrice, you're clearly not interested in me. So tell me, why should I be interested in you? People don't say this out loud, but that's really what happens in the background, psychologically. And there's some kind of power to being mindful of people's names.

The first time I attended a church nearby, most of the workers met with me as usual. I managed to hold engaging conversations with some of them, but at different times. When I was just about to leave, one of them took me to meet the rest of them, again, and they were gathered together this time.

About ten of them, I think—I said hello to each one of them with their names. They were all shocked. One with her jaw dropped asked, "What did you study in the university?" Engineering had nothing to do with it, really. I had only just made it habit to be mindful of people's names.

Every Sunday that I visit and meet any one of them again, I greet with their names, and what often happens is that everyone's cheerful in the end. Because I would remember their names, they had to remember mine not to seem rude.

While I don't need them to remember my name, I just believe that life's much better with good energy around, so why not start it if you can? Might be a great start to a wonderful friendship with someone, like I eventually did with Lady Enigma, though we had a good laugh about it someday.