Place Label Here!Why do we feel the need to attach a label on everyone?
Bad Mother...Republican...Liberal...Perfectionist...Atheist...Tree Hugger!
I am beginning to feel like my grandpa's valise. You remember, the old brown suitcase with all the travel stickers all over it. It told you at a glance where he had been; how he spent his time; why he would suddenly blurt out little snippets of a foreign language. It was a map of his life. And it helped you put grandpa in a box. Safely tucked away under his specific labels, you know exactly who grandpa is. Or, do you?
The trouble with labels is that they make it easy to assume that you know a person.
He is an adventurer. Or was he a salesman by trade who would rather have been home with his family?
She is a perfectionist. Or does she just find it easier to cope with her hectic life if she stays organized?
She is an environmental fanatic. Or does she have a child whose life depends on a chemical free home?
Assuming you know a person by the label you (or someone else) has attached to them is much like reading only the chapter headings of a book. You can get a general idea of what the author is aiming at but you will never understand what prompted him or her to take that position. You will never truly know who that person is and why.
Perhaps it is a function of the world we live in today. We are becoming increasingly dependent on a kind of "Googled" version of the people in our lives. We don't take the time to find out why Aunt Sally never married and had a family. She is destined to remain our
eccentric Aunt with the 44 cats. The fact that her favorite childhood pet was drowned by the neighbors son will probably never come up over Thanksgiving dinner. But it was the reason Aunt Sally focused all her time, energy and money into rescuing abused animals.
It is no wonder that people in the world don't understand us. They don't know us...and they don't really want to know us. And we don't want to know them.
Just scan the labels and you know all you need to know...now close the box!
