LABELS

Don’t we like to sort out people? Oh we do !. Sort them out in different ways. Classify them. Categorise them. And Bang ! Label them. “He is such an egoist.” “ She is vain and arrogant”. “That old man is interfering”. “ Oh God! That kid is so dumb!”

Once you label a person, they stay labeled in your mind. Worse, the word gets passed on. You refer to them always with their trademark labels. It’s easier, you see. And then you talk about them to others with these very same labels as well. Of course, you do a Sort! You might highlight one label, and underplay another, depending on whom or what you are talking about.

I have wondered why we do label people. Is it to make them easier to understand? Or is it to make them easier to recall? Or Is it to be clear about what makes them tick? Or do we feel clever at having unmasked them? Do we want to know and understand our responses to them? Or to check out whether we can or cannot trust them? It could be any one or a bouquet of reasons .

How do people get labeled? From my own understanding and experience, the most important one is through the perception of their visible actions or deeds and its impact on the onlooker. Even if the visible action could be more than one or the impact felt over a certain period of time, does that still give us the Right to label? Slotting people into categories? And forgetting them? How many of us actually do a Refresh on them , unlearn, update information and see whether we can reclassify them ?

So do you see the gaps? Visible action or deeds constitute just a small percentage of the human package and are situational and multidimensional. So what are we doing here? Aren't we over reacting, labelling people? When the human psyche is ever changing , interweaving , adding new experiences, thinking new things, meeting new people, re aligning objectives, do they deserve permanent labels, written in indelible ink?

The only label I would really like to attribute to a person is their name. Beyond that I try to keep all avenues open, always and forever. A human being, to me, is a mystery to be gently unwound and under stood, little by little. Unwinding can be deeper, slower, lighter or longer. Understanding can be wonderful or terrifying, simple or complicated, boring or enthralling. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that understanding of another person can never be complete.

What if you stopped labeling? You will be amazed at what such freedom can do to you. You will find it difficult to label after a while. You will never judge. You will find that your openness has increased your perceptive capabilities. You will see what you have missed before. You will see new areas. You will see new behavior. You will discover new reasons for old behavior. The possibilities are endless. The response can be amazing too.