Yo, Sapiens!

My full name is Jesus E. Sapiens, but my friends call me Sapiens or Sapes. The nickname originally started in eighth-grade in Mrs. Ramirez first period Physical Education class. She was a sport fanatic and coaching was in her blood, because of which she called several students by nicknames she had designated to them. She told me she liked the name and enjoyed pronouncing it and asked me to get used to it as she would no longer refer to me by my first name. It shadowed me to high-school where I played football. One of my previous classmates whom attended eighth-grade with me, also decided to play ball. The coach over heard him calling me by my last name and it stuck. From that point on, the only names my teammates ever called me where either Sapes or Sapiens. To them, that was my only name and when I introduced myself to a new person they would correct me and say “his name is Sapiens, not Jesus excuse him”. The only sets of people to ever call me by my first name were my family and girls. Whenever I introduced a girl into the group and they overheard her calling me Jesus, they would go senseless. “Who are you talking to? We don’t know any Hey-Zues!” Now that I think of it, it’s amusing how far others would go to preserve my nickname; after all it was my nickname not theirs. My last name comes from the Latin word Sapiens meaning wise. You might have also heard the term Homo sapiens, meaning the species we originated from. Yes I have encountered people in my life time attempt to tease my last name and all I reply with is; “do you even know what Homo sapiens is? Do you even know what sapiens means for that matter?” and most often than not, they wouldn't

 know. I’d explain to them that Homo sapiens is the species from which we originated, and sapiens was a Latin word that meant wise. I felt the need to defend my last name and carry it high because my father and his father did so. Carrying my name high and being proud of it was something I have, still to this date, that connects me to my roots, to my family. Hearing it over the intercom on those Friday-nights were the best feeling; I felt I was making my family proud. I was taught that a man’s legacy is his last name. You could have not accomplished much in a world scale, yet if you managed to keep your last name going, your legacy would carry on. All in all I am proud of being a Sapiens, and I will gladly and proudly carry the last name, passing it to my children and so on. Many people change their last names and not necessarily for marriage purposes, mainly because their past has affected them in a negative way; by changing their names, they feel some sort of escape from their past life. To them it is easier to forget what they have endured. Personally, my life has not been an easy one, nevertheless I am grateful. Due to those life lessons, I am the person I am today and I wouldn't change that for anything.