“Good day, this is Tim from Zim”. Regular readers of these articles will know that; the name appears at the bottom of the article each week. After all (or perhaps that should read, before all), Tim Middleton is simply the name given to me by my parents many moons ago. “From Zim” does not technically come as a title but it is a statement. It is not quite a nickname, either; neither is it offensive. It can simply be understood to say that this person called Tim is currently based in Zimbabwe. There is no special honour attached to it and yet it is probably sufficient for anyone to know. Tim is just another person in this beautiful country.
We are all given a name when we are born. We have no say in the choice of name. We just grow up to understand that that is our name. No problem. We might not like it but that is what we were called, that is the name on our birth certificate. When we are older and we still do not like our given name, we may change our name legally to something that we find more appealing or appropriate. Equally others may through our childhood, and even later in our workplace, give us another name, a nickname, perhaps. As an example, some readers may recognise from many years ago a very pale-skinned young teacher from England who was given the name of ‘Pink Panther’ after he fell asleep lying out in the bush and loped around the school in an apparently absent-minded manner – or (at the same school) the large and very able caterer whose nickname within a day or two was quickly and masterfully ascribed as ‘McNosh’ (his surname happening to be McIntosh).
Of course, some people are not given different names or nicknames but take on titles, sometimes given by others but equally sometimes given by themselves. In European cultures there are a whole range of titles awarded or inherited. So, we hear of people with the title of Lord, Duke, Earl, Count or, slightly lower down the scale, Sir. Here in Africa, we may prefer to take on the title of Reverend, Honourable, Excellency, Worship. Such, no doubt, are titles to which the recipients are entitled.
Of course, we may not like a system that does that but those who are given them will no doubt like them (interestingly, some teachers overseas nowadays object to being called ‘Sir’ or ‘Ma’am’ and prefer to being called by their first name by their pupils). Pupils are very quick to give nicknames to teachers (less so nowadays perhaps) and often they show great wit and accuracy. There is no harm in any of them, on the whole.
However, pupils are also very adept at awarding certain titles on individuals that no-one would want, a tactic often used by bullies. Bullies in particular delight in awarding demeaning hurtful names, epithets or nicknames on others to try to show how powerful they are. They feel they are entitled to more than others, usually when they realise that others have earned far more through the right channels. They do not like it so they move in and take action.
There has been a viral clip circulating of Meryl Streep, the celebrated actress, using the Golden Globes ceremony in 2017, where she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award, to express her concern and deep dismay in recognising that, «When the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose», describing a situation where someone in power (no guesses) “outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back” another person and ridiculed him publicly. She went on to declare that “It kind of broke my heart when I saw it. I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life.” It was real life. Bullying done in full public view.
Sadly, it is real life all around us, even here in Zim, even in schools. Bullies feel they have an entitlement to mock, ridicule, taunt, tease, provoke, incite, demean, berate others, for no other reason than to try to gain an upper hand in the minds of others, for their own self-benefit, to appear to be strong and tough. The reality is, they have absolutely no entitlement to do so. No-one has. Education, as we have seen in previous articles, may well be about engagement but in no way should it be about entitlement. Yes, children are entitled to an education, a free one at that, but they are not entitled to bully others. We must all be engaged in this fight against the sense of entitlement that people will select for themselves. We do not need to be excellent to see that, just honourable.