Label-In sociology a label is a way of differentiating and identifying people. Many people would call labels a form of prejudice or discrimination. However, we in our daily lives use labels. We label people as a friend, enemy, acquaintance, best friend, etc. Most of these labels don't carry a negative connotation.
Today, a friend and I were discussing labels and why we use them. The conclusion we came to was that you give a person one of these kinds of labels in order to make them feel better. Does it really matter to you who you call your best friends? Do you care if you label someone a friend, when really they are only an acquaintance? However do you have friends that if they were called your best friend, they would get upset or hurt? Most of us do.
In my life, I know many different people. Some I talk to on a daily basis, some on a weekly, some monthly, and some very rarely. I call a few different people my best friend. Some of the people closest to me live far away, and I only talk to on occasion. This doesn't make them any less of a friend then someone I talk to on a regular basis. I however have those few friends that if they weren't called my best friend they would get butt hurt. I label people based on the need they have. I believe there will come a time where everyone in my life is only labelled as a "friend" unless they are my husband.
Then there are the labels that we give people that are seen as discrimination. When teachers label students as dumb, disabled, ADD, etc, what idea are we giving to those students? When friends say we are fat, ugly, short, stupid, retarded, boring, etc.. What does that do to your self esteem? As a society we have become very comfortable and a little too honest to each other. There are some things that should NEVER be said. We wonder why our kids are developing low self esteems and don't feel good enough for anything, well I think you should look at what they are being told about themselves every day. Are they surrounding themselves with people that build them up, or tear them down? Do we let their teachers put a label on them?
Every day there are on average 84 suicides in the United States alone. Most of these suicides were from a depression. 1/2 of them are started by someone being labelled/judged. These are some of the most preventable deaths. I met someone when I was a sophomore in College. This person was extremely suicidal. (Didn't know this at the time). I ran into her in the grocery store, and started talking to her in line. I ended up giving her my phone number and getting hers. I started to invited her to activities where she began making a lot of friends. I didn't end up hanging out with her all the time, but I saw her once or twice a week for about 3 months. After I left Utah, I got a phone call from her. During this call, she informed me that the day I met her at the grocery store, she was preparing to poison herself and commit suicide. She told me that my small act of just saying hi stopped her. I helped her to see that there were people out there who enjoyed being around her, and that she could make friends. I never knew how much my act of kindness had meant until 5 months later.
Everybody deserves a chance to be themselves. Whoever that inner person is should be allow to shine. The world has become a very judgmental place, and we are ALL guilty of it at some point in our lives. As you go about your daily lives, I ask that you try to be a little nicer and remember that you never know why someone is how they are. Smile and say hi to people because you never know who's life you may change. I am grateful for the people in my life who took the time to get to know me, and helped me to see who I was and what I had to offer. As Walt Whitman once said, "Be curious, not judgmental."
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