No vacation from identity

Last week I was talking about the definition of identity. And when that subject comes up it almost invariably starts a discussion of names and their relationship to identity. There's nothing special about names, though -- they're just the values attached to some of the attributes (first name, last name, middle name/initial, surname, christian name, patronymic and so on) of our identity but aren't necessary for identifying someone within a given context. That point was driven home to me just last week.

Regular readers will know that my wife and I frequently vacation aboard cruise ships -- it's one of the more economical and efficient ways to see the world. This year we convinced my son and his family to come along while we visited Alaska aboard the Holland-America Line (HAL)'s M/S Statendam.

One of the hallmarks of a HAL ship is the crew --  more than 90% of the staff will be from two countries, Indonesia and the Philippines. As it happens, my daughter-in-law is also from Indonesia. That would make her 2-year-old daughter half Indonesian.

The crew on the ship sign on for 10 to 12 months, leaving their families at home and missing them very much, especially their children. Almost all of the dining room stewards and cabin stewards are Indonesian. Even the captain of the Statendam was half Indonesian (his mother's side, his father was Dutch). For a man who misses his own small children, a 2-year-old Indonesian child was a wonderful reminder of why they go to sea and work so hard. My granddaughter, whose name is Zahra (nicknamed "Zah-zah"), was pampered and spoiled almost from the moment we boarded the ship.

All guests on a HAL ship are treated well, but this time it was different. No matter where we went -- at breakfast, in the show lounge, one of the music venues, the theater or simple walking through the decks my wife and I were always greeted warmly and services were offered enthusiastically. Even the captain, the master of the ship, would stop what he was doing to inquire of us. Of course, what everyone wanted to know was "how is Zah-zah? Can we get something for her?" whether she was with us or not. Very few of this crew knew my name, but they could all identify me -- I was Zah-zah's grandfather! And that was enough, because in the context of the M/S Statendam that identifier was unique to me and that's all that was needed.

Dave Kearns is a consultant and editor of IdM, the Journal of Identity Management.