Labels exist for the convenience of the labeler. -- Dennis Palumbo, author
I like labels.
Labels keep me organized.
I have labels in the kitchen. All the tea tins are labeled with wipe off marker so I know exactly what kind of tea lies within. And if I get different teas, I can wipe off the old label and put on a new one. I have labels on my spices in the spice drawer. I write the spice on the top of the lid so I can just look down and know which is which without having to take each jar out of the drawer to see what it is.
I have labels In the linen closet on the bins that contain our bed sheets: T for Twin, D for Double, and Q for Queen. So when everyone is making up their beds, they know exactly where the sheets are for their bed. And if they are putting clean sheets away, once again, they know where to put them. Perfect.
I have labels in the TV room on the colorful file boxes where I keep all our DVD's. Romance and Comedy. War and Adventure. Kids. Exercise. (Now the trick is to get everyone in the house to put the DVD's away in the appropriate box when they are done watching them. Ha.)
I have labels in the office which is where one would expect a plethora of labels to exist: labels on file folders, labels on three-ringed binders, labels on check boxes... To do, Download, Job Report, Expense Report, Reimbursements, Receipts, Mileage Log...
I don't just like labels. I LOVE labels.
I guess I am a bit OCD. Or - I suffer a bit from obsessive compulsive disorder. But my OCD just compensates for my ADD. You know - attention deficit disorder. So, because I have an issue keeping focused, I label everything to help me remember where everything is. So I guess I am OCD and ADD.
Hmmm. Something's not right here. Feeling a little funny about the label thing right now. I mean, labels are great when they are completely accurate. If I write PG Tips on the tea tin, I know that when I open that tin, I will get a PG Tips tea bag. But I don't really like the fact that I think I can slap a label across a person and expect to know exactly what I will get when I encounter them.
I may be an organized person, but I am not OCD.
I may forget things once in a while and get distracted, but I am not ADD.
These days, I find that I am cautious when I meet someone for the first time. I don't like to tell them I am a Christian. That label puts me into a specific demography of which I have never quite fit. I don't want to tell them I am a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent. I don't want to tell them I am a doctor's wife or a stay-at-home mom. All those labels place me into specific tea tins, and I don't believe I fit into any particular one. In fact, I would have to be chopped up into several pieces in order to be placed into each of the appropriately labeled tins.
Yet, I must admit that I label people on a regular basis. Per the opening quote - it is convenient for me if I can put friends and acquaintances into certain groupings: "Oh, he's a right-winged conservative. She's a flaming liberal. He's gay. She's bi-polar. He's a jock. She's the cheerleader type. That family is materialistic. That mom and dad are helicopter parents. He's slick like a politician." I have even put labels on others that could accurately be placed on me. "She's a typical doctor's wife." or "And he calls himself a Christian!"
In this political year of heated debate and polarized perspectives, I am more and more aware of the labels I use regularly to demean and criticize those who's opinions differ from mine. And yet I am reminded of the words of my hero, Jesus. Unfortunately, his tiny country was occupied by a cruel and oppressive regime - the Roman Empire. Despite the heated political tenor of his time, when asked the two greatest commands, he answered: Love God with all you have, and love others the way you love yourself. And he lived out that dictum by surrounding himself with people from all walks of life: men and women, conservatives and liberals, Harvard grads and vo-tech laborers, countrymen and foreigners, oppressors and oppressed, healthy and sick, rich and poor, joyful and sad.
I "attempt" to live by his words. I don't struggle so much with the "love God" part. But I find that every time I tack a label onto someone, I am unconsciously providing a reason to not love them. And I find that the label I so smugly place on an Other is usually a label that defines the parts of my own self that I so want to change.
Maybe that's why Jesus said to love others like you love yourself. Perhaps we are all so full of self-loathing that we dissect out those ugly parts of our own ego and tack them on to the Others around us. Maybe, if we are kinder to our self, we will be kinder to others. Maybe, if we try to love our self, we will be able to love others.
I'm going to try.
I like labels.
Labels keep me organized.
I have labels in the kitchen. All the tea tins are labeled with wipe off marker so I know exactly what kind of tea lies within. And if I get different teas, I can wipe off the old label and put on a new one. I have labels on my spices in the spice drawer. I write the spice on the top of the lid so I can just look down and know which is which without having to take each jar out of the drawer to see what it is.
I have labels In the linen closet on the bins that contain our bed sheets: T for Twin, D for Double, and Q for Queen. So when everyone is making up their beds, they know exactly where the sheets are for their bed. And if they are putting clean sheets away, once again, they know where to put them. Perfect.
I have labels in the TV room on the colorful file boxes where I keep all our DVD's. Romance and Comedy. War and Adventure. Kids. Exercise. (Now the trick is to get everyone in the house to put the DVD's away in the appropriate box when they are done watching them. Ha.)
I have labels in the office which is where one would expect a plethora of labels to exist: labels on file folders, labels on three-ringed binders, labels on check boxes... To do, Download, Job Report, Expense Report, Reimbursements, Receipts, Mileage Log...
I don't just like labels. I LOVE labels.
I guess I am a bit OCD. Or - I suffer a bit from obsessive compulsive disorder. But my OCD just compensates for my ADD. You know - attention deficit disorder. So, because I have an issue keeping focused, I label everything to help me remember where everything is. So I guess I am OCD and ADD.
Hmmm. Something's not right here. Feeling a little funny about the label thing right now. I mean, labels are great when they are completely accurate. If I write PG Tips on the tea tin, I know that when I open that tin, I will get a PG Tips tea bag. But I don't really like the fact that I think I can slap a label across a person and expect to know exactly what I will get when I encounter them.
I may be an organized person, but I am not OCD.
I may forget things once in a while and get distracted, but I am not ADD.
These days, I find that I am cautious when I meet someone for the first time. I don't like to tell them I am a Christian. That label puts me into a specific demography of which I have never quite fit. I don't want to tell them I am a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent. I don't want to tell them I am a doctor's wife or a stay-at-home mom. All those labels place me into specific tea tins, and I don't believe I fit into any particular one. In fact, I would have to be chopped up into several pieces in order to be placed into each of the appropriately labeled tins.
Yet, I must admit that I label people on a regular basis. Per the opening quote - it is convenient for me if I can put friends and acquaintances into certain groupings: "Oh, he's a right-winged conservative. She's a flaming liberal. He's gay. She's bi-polar. He's a jock. She's the cheerleader type. That family is materialistic. That mom and dad are helicopter parents. He's slick like a politician." I have even put labels on others that could accurately be placed on me. "She's a typical doctor's wife." or "And he calls himself a Christian!"
In this political year of heated debate and polarized perspectives, I am more and more aware of the labels I use regularly to demean and criticize those who's opinions differ from mine. And yet I am reminded of the words of my hero, Jesus. Unfortunately, his tiny country was occupied by a cruel and oppressive regime - the Roman Empire. Despite the heated political tenor of his time, when asked the two greatest commands, he answered: Love God with all you have, and love others the way you love yourself. And he lived out that dictum by surrounding himself with people from all walks of life: men and women, conservatives and liberals, Harvard grads and vo-tech laborers, countrymen and foreigners, oppressors and oppressed, healthy and sick, rich and poor, joyful and sad.
I "attempt" to live by his words. I don't struggle so much with the "love God" part. But I find that every time I tack a label onto someone, I am unconsciously providing a reason to not love them. And I find that the label I so smugly place on an Other is usually a label that defines the parts of my own self that I so want to change.
Maybe that's why Jesus said to love others like you love yourself. Perhaps we are all so full of self-loathing that we dissect out those ugly parts of our own ego and tack them on to the Others around us. Maybe, if we are kinder to our self, we will be kinder to others. Maybe, if we try to love our self, we will be able to love others.
I'm going to try.
No comments:
Post a Comment