The Meaning of My Name

My name is Ayden Mosler.

Mosler is a geographical name for someone who lives by the Mosel river.  This river is a tributary of the Rhine and runs through Germany, Luxembourg, and France.

(3 generations of Moslers in Germany)

My last name means a lot to me.  It represents all of my family who has come before me.  Those living and dead who worked tirelessly to survive.  My family comes from farmers and plebeian style origins, so working hard for them meant livelihood.  This hardworking value is ingrained in my family tradition and is an expectation of everyone who is of Mosler descendant.  This is a pretty heavy weight as is, because in my family you are expected give 110% all the time to whatever you are doing.  Also, this name specifically bears more weight on me as I am the eldest Mosler boy and expected to carry on family tradition under the family name.  In doing this I must first make my family and relatives proud but also set a good example for the rest who follow in my footsteps.  

This is very difficult in the sense that I feel so much pressure to be this "heir" to the family name. On one hand I want to make all my family proud and carry on traditions and family values, but on the other hand I realize that I should make my family mine.  Like for one thing I want to continue the value of hard-working Moslers, however I don't want it to envelop me so that I don't spend enough time with my future family.  My family also has a great history of handymen and as much as I believe that these are great skills to have, if I had a son that wished to do something different I would want him to feel as if he could follow that passion without fear of being outcast.  Or at the same time I would love to have a daughter that breaks that mold and chooses to be a technical worker.  Also, within my own future family I want to have an open emotional relationship which is something my family lacks because of that hard-working set of values. I also believe that tough love is important, however there are times for the upmost compassion and attempt of understanding.  These are just a few of the things I've noticed through both my immediate and extended family.

All in all I really want to figure out a way to balance my own personal beliefs on the ways a family should act towards each other all while keeping the core family traditions and values intact.  I want to be better than any other Mosler man that came before me, and maybe that's the family value speaking but, I want to fill in the holes these men had when it comes to raising families.  Through this I hope to set myself apart from the rest and have the family that I've always dreamt about but also be apart of the great history of Moslers that gets told long after I've gone.

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