Labels

A dream of mine, other than the one I've always had of total and complete peace, is to live in a world free of labels.

You know the labels I am speaking of.

Black, white, Native American, Democrat, Republican, Christian, Catholic, Jew, Muslim, Fat, Skinny, the list goes on and on.

Why is it when people are talking they have to resort to labeling people as they talk, for instance, "My friend Bill, you know, the Black guy you saw me with..."?

Why can't they just say, "My friend Bill"?

I remember a few years ago I was reading an editorial in a small town newspaper that was written by the publisher and he was referring to his adopted son as "one of color." Why couldn't he just have referred to him as "my son." Was it really necessary for this man to explain his son's race? He complained that people stared at them out in public and I can't but wonder if maybe the root of his problem was maybe his own attitude towards his son.

Labeling is everywhere you look, everywhere you turn and everywhere you go.

Facebook is full of labeling. Everything from political to sexual to religious.

Someone is always trying to ram their political beliefs down everyone else's throats.

People use their religious beliefs to tell everyone else how to live their lives and who they can and cannot fall in love with.

Freedom of religion, to many, means that you are free to worship as "they" believe you should, not necessarily how you yourself actually believe.

A group of extremists in a religion create havoc and suddenly everyone associated with that religion is an enemy and is labeled as such.

Not only do we label, but we also tend to do so in a not so flattering manner.

I won't go into a list of these disgusting terms, because I don't want to repeat those words here. It's an ugly list and it spews forth hatred in so many ways.

Sadly, we are all guilty of labeling in one way or another.

I didn't realize just how many people consider themselves experts at figuring out who and what everyone else is and that they should all be judged accordingly.

It won't happen in my lifetime or probably in the next lifetime, but hopefully the day will come when people will no longer think it necessary to "brand" other folks based on race, color, political belief or religious preference.

"...you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one..."- John Lennon