Names and Coincidences

Since freshman year orientation, something has stuck with me. It has to do with names and their effect on people.  On that day, I remember my link leaders explaining how people like to hear their names told back to them. I know now that it was just a script (since I've been a leader myself), but it still sticks with me. When you hear your name, your attention is drawn instantly. You want to know who is saying it and why. However, that is not the only reason it draws our attention. you see, when someone says your name, things become more personal. It seems as though the person knows you better even though a name is nothing but something to refer to oneself. I guess it's because names are unique. I don't know of anyone named Chris Keith, and so when I think of my name I think of myself. When I think of my friends name, I think of my friend. So names give us individuality. They give us a sense of identity, we aren't just another person in the crowd. We like when people acknowledge us as just that, us. we like to be appreciated for who we are.
This train of thought led me to another idea. Does your name affect your personality? I know people who just look like they belong in the name they have, as if names were coats and each of us had a unique size corresponding with a certain name. Imagine a guy that totally looks like he should be named Steve instead of Joseph? Has the choice of his parents to name him a certain name affected him at all, even if only in the smallest of ways?
This led me to ponder the affect that small things have on our lives. I've had my life changed from small things that I've done or experienced in my life. Story time. The summer after sophomore year, I was at the mall with my good friend and we were at the apple store screwing around and we took some pictures on an iPad and made one picture the wallpaper. We left and walked around the mall some more. Meanwhile, our other friend and a girl I didn't know were in the apple store and they saw our picture and decided to go try to find us. They eventually did find us as we were walking out of the mall to go home, and we all ended up going to see World War Z together . That girl that I didn't know before that day became my best friend after that. We are still close. Now think back to all those tiny, insignificant choices that have affected that day. If we had not made that picture the wallpaper on that particular iPad, or  if they had not looked at that iPad, they would not have come to find us. If my friend and I had left 5 minutes earlier, they would have missed us, if we had decided to stay in a store a bit longer than we did, they may have missed us also. All those circumstances had to work out perfectly, and they did. All because of those small outcomes, I have one of the best people I've ever met in my life. It's mind blowing to think about what could happen or what could not happen just from the choices we make in this moment.
Yes I get that this blog post was rambling and seemingly unrelated to anything, but that's what happens when Chris Keith stays up late. Goodnight.