This July 4, on a closed street with no cars or traffic, filled with chairs, canopies and tables full of home made goodies, I observed a miracle. Neighbors having real conversations, no iPhones, just talking, laughing, eating and kids running around chasing each other with water balloons.
We’re an old, tree lined residential neighborhood where a neighbors funeral was the only time we were brought together. So a 4th of July neighborhood block party was a real first.
Our door hanger invite said, “Street will be closed from 4pm-7pm, bring a dish to share and your own drinks”.
So in addition to my basket of home grown apricots, I decided to bring a new roll of nametags and a felt tip marker. I thought I would at least get to know a few neighbors’ names.
I only wrote first names. Mary, sitting at a table by herself, was my first name tag. She was saving the table for her children, grand kids and great grand kids.
Soon I invited her to join our table where we were adorned with nametags. She was greeted with smiles, welcome hugs and questions about old neighbors, bike paths and food. Before you knew it we were all friends.
As Mary’s family and grand kids arrived, they came by to get tagged as one neighbor said to me, “I want to be tagged too”
As I wrote out each nametag I would ask questions: Where do you live? What street? What grade in school? Are you a twin? I actually found a set of twins and my next door neighbor, who said, “I’m your neighbor” I didn’t even recognize him, without his truck. He got an extra hug and 2 apricots.
So amidst the laughter and great food, friendships were forming, kids were squirting each other and making giant bubbles. I delighted in watching all this and it was obvious that even living on the same street needed this gathering to really get to know one another.
Everyone felt connected to the point that at the end of 3 hours, Claudette said “let’s do this again, only sooner and I’ll cook”.
Our nametags gave us permission to become friends. Could nametags actually open the door to world neighbors, friendships and peace?
At the end of one of my recent podcast, I asked my guest, how would you help people bring peace into their lives?
He immediately replied, “I would give everyone a nametag and there would be no strangers” A nametag gives you permission to say, Hi Joe, Hi Mary. It’s a disarming gesture and opens the door to friendship.
I saw this first hand:
Nametags were the ice breaker, conversation starters, friend maker, and
engagement tool. I saw how knowing someone’s first name made people comfortable and was an invitation for friendliness.
I felt like we were in the TV sitcom Cheers, and as their song, “where everyone knows your name”. We all felt a sense of belonging and importance to our neighborhood.
I asked my partner after finishing this article: What’s in a name?
His response, “Everything”.
# # #
For more about nametags, visit Scotts Ginsberg, the World’s Expert on Nametags site. “A nametag isn’t just a sticker, it’s a statement”.
