Try to imagine a world without labels: I know, it’s not so easy. We are so accustomed to putting everything and everyone in a little box. But let‘s think what labels really do: they are a convenient way to summon various stored ideas about a person or thing; in a way they help organize our reality. There is no question that labels make our lives easier, but what do we sacrifice in that process?
In referring to a person we both might know, we might invoke the ethnic label for that Italian guy who works with us, or that overweight woman who sits in the front office, the doctor who lives down the street, or that gay guy who works on the second floor, or that bald guy who comes around selling coffee, or that old woman who cleans my house.
For all the convenience that a label offers, it provides so many limitations. While it might offer a way to identify the person or thing we are describing, it also often pigeonholes people without letting their true essence and their complexities shine through. Also, labels about a person become outdated very fast, especially today.
I know that personally because if I run into people from my past, they often refer to me as a lawyer: this is hopelessly outdated on so many levels, and is in fact inaccurate: I gave up my law license awhile ago and will never practice law again. Think about it: is it really necessary to label a fully formed human based upon their ethnic identity, sexual orientation, current job title, or physical size? And even more importantly, do you think that the person you are labeling just thinks of himself that way?
What are the alternatives to labels? It may require us to work harder to really see the person, it might require much more flexibility and openness, and it might make us think more about our own complexities.
