It always amazing to me how much we judge others by their outward appearances. Someone who is slender or toned seem to be preferred over someone who is thin or obese. We tend to shy away from people who physically or mentally handicapped. People who are dressed in last year's styles may not be looked at in the same way. Within the first ten minutes of meeting someone we can usually stamp them with a label right on their forehead. Labels can be tricky thing to remove.
( Sorry for the weird look of the text in the above paragraph. I'm not sure what happened. and now back to our post )
Labels can be painful for the person who wears them. Honestly, I think labeling is downright stupid. It's funny how we even label someone without even talking to them. We glance, stamp, and then react. As if that isn't bad enough, we go out of way to tell others about the label that we've just placed on someone, so then they are walking around with that person's label on their mind as well as a snapshot of their face. It would be nice if we could just leave it a label, but that never happens. All too often we tease or shun a labeled person. It does the person wearing the label absolutely no good.
A labeled person is often ignored, teased, or worse. The label tends to stick around for years. In my case, I was labeled a wimp by my sister's first husband. You know that idiot still thinks I'm a wimp that's okay, because if he had to mess with my critters I'm pretty sure he would freak. So umm...yeah okay, back to post. Labels can erode a person's self esteem. As a country, as a race, we need to stop stamping people. We need to remember what it feels like to wear a label.
We, the human race, are horrid when it comes to labeling. We use labels like geek, queer, slow, bookworm, wimp, dumb and the list can go on and on. We need to stop labeling people. We need to really consider looking at a person's good sides and label them that way. Maybe that person that you've labeled "geek" might just the be the way you pass a class. The "queer" could be the best friend that you've ever had. The person that's slow might have one of largest hearts. The bookworm might have all the answers. The wimp might make up for his weakness in other ways. Someone who isn't as sharp in one subject is almost guarrentued to have one area that he or she excels in. One of our biggest flaws is the way we put people down. We allow someone's outward appearance to control our thoughts of someone.
So you've read the post and know I want you to go back and look at the pictures and tell me the first thing to comes to your mind when you look at the people in the pictures. I suspect your impressions will be different. Now remember you have to base this on only their outward appearance. So leave your impressions in the comments and I'll talk to you later!
Interesting post. People have been labeling others, good and bad, since the dawn of civilization. You're not going to change it.
Speaking from my own personal experience, the obligation is on the person being labeled. One needs to eschew their negativity. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
Posted by: Rick | November 01, 2009 at 07:23 AM