Name-Form

Her name was Vayna Vesta. In her adolescence, the boys teased her by saying she would always be a virgin because of her name, and that's exactly what happened, but not by accident.

The girl's great grandfather, Gehardt Eppens, was an extraordinary man. He was extraordinary because of his outlook. The reclusive scholar firmly believed that man was divine and that what he put his attention on manifested, and what Herr Eppens put his attention on was the perfect human. He thought, contemplated, ruminated, meditated, philosophized, and theorized what the perfect human would be and how to create him. He began by using the principle that there is a definite relationship between the name and the form of all things in God's creation.

You see, Gehardt believed that a name was not merely a handle to identify something by but was like DNA, the very essence of the form that carried that name. This led the scholar/philosopher to giving a proper name to the one he wanted to become the ideal human, his great granddaughter, Vesta. He knew that in Roman mythology, Vesta was the goddess

of the hearth, and that's exactly what Vayna became, the loving embodiment of the nurturing mother. Vayna lived up to her patriarch's expectations and her name.

In time, the girl became not merely a mother but a supremely loving one. She nurtured, directed, and gave compassion to three beautiful children. Later, when the children were gone, she opened an orphanage and became well known as a near-saint because of the love she bestowed on her adopted children.

Many people go through a time, live an experience, face a moment where they can go left or right. Vayna's story is one of turning right.

Her moment came was when she was nine, a vulnerable age for girls because they are innocent and have barely felt the complicated twangs of their gender, all the while radiating gentle femininity. It is said that a girl should believe absolutely nothing a boy says because every word is aimed at one thing and one thing only: conquest. In the tree house that balmy June afternoon, a boy said many words.

Isn't it beautiful weather? But maybe a bit hot. Especially up here because heat rises, you know. The boy soothed and sweet-talked and the balmy June breeze wafted through the tree house gently caressing the two.

But, in spite of the boy's opinion of his powers of persuasion and his former conquests, the innocent and naive are still able to control themselves. You see, at the crucial moment, that moment of truth when a young girl chooses to be led by her emotions or lead with her head, Vayna chose to remain her pure self.

Because the dear girl was so tantalizingly beautiful, it was only the first decision of many she would have to make, but it was the most important, because it was one of self-realization and set the pattern for her future reactions. In the tree house that June, she mastered her emotions and forever remained pure.

But Vayna was not a recluse. She went to football games and parties and dances. She looked and acted as normal as everyone else because she was. She was not an ethereal, saint-like fairy.

One day in high school she was put to the test. It was after a football game. Excitement was in the air, and so were the expectations of the boys. On that day, what happened before anything really happened would have made Herr Gehardt smile eternally. Vestal virgin, indeed. But it was the way Vayna did it that made her a true heroine.

She didn't give a lecture on immorality, she didn't bad-mouth the boys, she didn't become furious and refuse to join in or run away. Yet after her imput, the girls and expecting boys went their ways happily. What did she do?

Have you ever been caught in a mood, like a bad temper, a swooning love, or emotional overshadowing, but then get splashed with cold water, or your parents walk in, the phone rings, or you bump against a chair? A small act, but it jars you out of the trance and into level-headedness.

Although this may seem oversimplified, it's what actually happened with the girl. While advances were being made, the pure and beautiful Vayna Vesta merely turned on the light and said, "Hey, let's get some pizza."

No one resented it, they even welcomed it, and the pressure

Some people thought that old Gerhardt Eppens was a weirdo: That he believed he could create one's destiny through the name you gave him. It certainly worked with Vayna Vesta throughout her life, and if he were alive today, I'm sure he would try to spread his idea so everyone could benefit.