The Man With Two Names!

A name is what identifies some one in their family and community.

The Book Of Proverbs says that a good name is to be desired above gold and silver, although in that sense, it has more to do with a person’s character than what they are called.

To avoid confusion, and in order to be completely open, I’ve decided to tell you the story of a man with two names! You may, or may not know him, It’s me!

Being a Baby Boomer who made his first appearance a few years after World War 2, I was born at a time when one General Douglas McArthur had successfully led the Allied forces to victory in the Pacific, and then into battle in Korea!

While a large number of Australians were wary of McArthur because of the ‘Brisbane Line’ plan, he was credited with being one of the reasons that Australia avoided invasion.

The Brisbane Line was an imaginary line drawn across the continent from Brisbane. The plan was that if the country was invaded from the North, it could be yielded up and won back later.

This was in contrast to the British plan, which was to win the war in Europe first, and then move on to the Pacific.

This may have meant losing control of most, or all, of continental Australia.

What may not have been realised in both Washington and London at the time is that had either plan been put into action, the war could possibly have gone on for years longer, and at great cost…

World War 2 actually marked the move away from Britain, and into a stronger alignment with US policies.

My Dad’s name was Allan, and as the eldest son, I was named after him.

Because one of my Mum’s heroes was one Gen Douglas McArthur, it seemed perfectly natural that my second name would be Douglas.

That wasn’t a problem, until Mum started calling me Douglas instead of Allan.

For much of my life, I was known as Douglas, or Doug, and then Dougie. This wasn’t a problem until after school and the need to more precisely identify myself.

Of course, now that we are further into the digital age, it’s even more important to be identified properly, and to protect that identity.

Why am I saying all this? Well, quite simply, there are a lot of people who know me as Douglas, and even more that know me as Allan.

As traffic grows to my blog, it will become more important as time goes on, and I feel that I need to be totally transparent.

It’s a situation that a lot of people would regard as trivial, while others may feel that I had something to hide, so I thought that the best course of action would be to tell everyone about it!

So, what do you call me? If you know me as Allan, that’s fine, and if you know me as Douglas, that’s OK too!

In fact, as I’ve said many times, you can call me just about anything – just don’t call me late for dinner. Cheers!