A Good Name
When you think of a person who carries a"good name" who do you think of?
In Pirkei Avot 4:13, Rabbi Shimon said,
There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of royalty, but the crown of a good name supersedes them all.
שְׁלשָׁה כְתָרִים הֵם, כֶּתֶר תּוֹרָה וְכֶתֶר כְּהֻנָּה וְכֶתֶר מַלְכוּת, וְכֶתֶר שֵׁם טוֹב עוֹלֶה עַל גַּבֵּיהֶן:
Imagine a good name as a series of notes that creates a piece of music over time. It doesn't have to be grand or complicated or even beautiful. The music doesn't have to play at Symphony Hall.
We each hold the notes in our hands in order to create a piece of music heard by others. We perform the music but it is the listeners who decide on the success of the piece.
So it is with a piece of music; so it is with a good name.
I write this in memory of a friend who passed away a few days ago. Her world was shaped by music, both as a teacher, a conductor and as a quiet person who helped bring music to many. Her good name already echoes softly in the hearts of those many people whose lives she touched. I know that her good name will play on for years to come and I have been fortunate to be part of her song.
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A Good Name
A good name is earned
through deeds.
What one says,
what one does.
A good name is not inherited,
nor bestowed upon oneself,
nor is it pre-ordained,
but composed over years
Listen by listen,
Word by word,
Person to person.
A good name is built quietly,
one person at a time.
It develops with a nod, a hug,
encouragement, teaching
in living rooms and classrooms,
kitchens and front porches
A good name doesn’t need monuments
or grand proclamations
for it is remembered
with memories of the softest of words,
and the warmth of a hand held.
A good name speaks for itself, or more likely whispers;
loudness doesn't measure greatness.
With the passage of time
like many of the best things in this world,
a good name gently fades,
but how that good name,
one ordinary human making the time,
did shine.
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