Have you ever noticed the labels we use? She is pretty; He is smart; they are jocks, Liberals; they are creative, he is a psycho, alcoholic, moron; she is a shark cookie, on and on, we label people. Yet, I have met many a person in my travels and each individual is a little bit different. The differences are what make it so cool. With that uniqueness we would all be the same and that would be boring indeed. We would live in a beehive of humanity, can you imagine. Why are we so quick to label people in such a linear way, as if they only have one quality? Has this ever happened to you; have you caught yourself doing this, are you even aware you are doing it at all? The other day a very bright, personable, intelligent, nice looking and friendly gal said to me; "wow, you have a lot of facts in your head" and I was taken a back completely. As I suppose that is true enough compared to the rest of the whole of humanity, yes, indeed I probably do have a lot of facts in my brain? Yet, my faithful servant side or memory as good as it maybe, certainly is only one part of who I am. Just like your memory is only a part of you, only one aspect. I do not feel having a decent memory is necessarily my strong point. Yet I was additionally in further conversation summed up as someone with a lot of facts in my head; wow, you can call me Mr. Webster or Mr. Britanica? Although she was right in a way, I was summed up and that was it? I wonder what she would think if I said; oh, you are pretty and went on about that, and during the rest of the conversation referred to her as being pretty and disregarding all the other aspects that made her who she is. In fact the reason for collection of data is only to verify my ideas, concepts and innovations, which is much more about who I am then having trivial facts in my head? In High School, College, I was a great athlete, respected and awarded and I tried hard, worked hard, won lots of events and deserved that, yet it seemed that was not my only point. We label athletes as jocks, etc. and back then, that was all I was to those who knew of me and I imagine some probably did not talk with me or get to know me because I was an athlete among other things. We label everyone. If a good-looking blonde is there, we label her as beautiful, even if she maybe a brilliant woman, personable, computer programmer and an expert pianist? You see the problem. We look at a good looking guy who has the gift of gab and think, oh perfect for a salesmen? It is silly, completely irrelevant really, we should address these issues in our society, we should be looking here. We should be careful not to label children as well, that is highly critical, because they are our best assets. Consider the future Einstein's of the world, we must not be so quick to label and categorize. We must not be throw them into 'general population' of education, but rather nurture those skills and personalities and celebrate their uniqueness. Does that make more sense? Lets make a deal, I will stop labeling people I see and meet if you promise to also. Think on that. |
