  Spiritual
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** Image ID #1509432 Unavailable **
My goal is educate people about alopecia and try to break
the Barbie-doll stereotype that children
get slammed with daily in media campaigns.
I want to show children that they are perfect just the way they are
and beauty comes from within. I want to encourage children
and adults with issues that make them feel different
and show them--through my big, bald, shiny head--that
who you are is the most important thing in the world,
not what you look like.
~~Jodi Pliszka
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“Labeling” is defined as “to identify or designate with a label; describe or classify or to pronounce judgment upon,” and a synonym for label is ‘mark.’ In other words, when we label people, we may be pronouncing judgment on them or marking them forever because of past behavior.” When we don’t understand people, we are prone to label them, to give them a mark that makes them fit somehow into our conception of that person.” Often, people come to us already labeled, and though we know little of the person, the person is marked by what others have labeled him.
When we label people, we see only the exterior. We don’t see the inside, the history of the person. We see only the behavior and not the cause of the behavior. When a person is labeled, it affects every area of his life, until he learns that he doesn’t have to claim labels that have been place upon him. People will not look at the change, they, for the most part, will adhere to the stamped label which society has placed upon the person. Society could be family, friends, peers, or any group of people. As long as people are not valued, labels will run rampant and people will suffer. Labels hurt.
Once, I was labeled as ‘quitter,’ until a friend told me I didn’t have to claim that label. People who labeled me saw only that I was ‘quitting,’ but they didn’t see the reasons deep inside that caused be to ‘quit.’ It’s funny how labels work. If I quit smoking, drinking, doing drugs, or being obnoxious, I am classified as a good person, letting go of something harmful. But when I quit things that are important to others, I am classified as a bad person and marked “quitter.” It is a label that sticks and one that others quickly latch onto. What people do not realize is though they consider something a good thing it may not be a good thing for me. It may be a great source of stress in my life and something I am not wired for, for we are all wired differently. What brings satisfaction to one person can be burdensome to another person. Unless they are very close friends, people don’t know our past, our history, our unique personality characteristics,and usually it is not those who really know us who apply the labels. I think many people are labeled because they don’t meet the expectations of others. They think we have great potential to achieve something, but what they see us as achieving is not important to us. When we fail to meet their expectations we receive such labels as 'under-achievers' or 'quitters,' because we did not fulfill their desires for our lives. They have pronounced judgment upon what is best for our lives, without really knowing us.
Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and a defender of religious faith, stated, “Once you label me you negate me.” Its like tunnel-vision, we see what the person has been labeled, but we miss the vast uniqueness of the person, in seeing only one small aspect of the person. When we see a person only through what the label reveals, we negate all other characteristics of the person.
When people are stereotyped, people in society come to know the person by a label. Our identities, our gifts and our strengths are never recognized.
http://www.familyservicetoronto.org/programs/options/labels.html
People are complex, multifaceted, and multidimensional. When we apply labels to them, we put on blinders and see only a narrow view of an expansive and complicated human being. Did you ever buy a plastic container or bottle of food at the super market with a huge label on the lid and sides that prevented you from seeing the contents? That’s what the labels we use to ‘describe’ people do; they obscure the contents of the individual.
http://www.personal-development.com/chuck/labels.htm
My favorite actor, Sam Elliott, once said, “I don’t want to be known as a sex symbol. There’s a great stigma that goes with that tag. I just want to be a Sam Elliott.” I think this is true of most of us; we don’t want to be labeled. Even if the label is something that may sound good to others, it brings stress and discomfort to those who bear the markings.
John Morley, British politician and journalist in the nineteenth century, stated, “Labels are devices for saving talkative persons the trouble of thinking.” I think there is much truth in this statement. Nineteenth century British pastor and author Charles H. Spurgeon wrote “Don’t rely too much on labels, for too often they are fables.” Many labels are created by people who love gossip and who take pleasure in demeaning others.
Our world is full of people who hate and people who strive for power. I don’t know if we can ever rid our world of the ills of labeling people, of bigotry and of a general disrespect of mankind to mankind. I do believe that we need to strive toward a goal of respecting people and seeing each person as a unique individual. With labels, we place restrictions upon people, limiting them to our own perceptions and conceptions of life and we place ourselves as judges, assessing the worthiness of another. How can we rightfully fully assess the worthiness of another?
Labels are easy to apply, but they are hard to remove, much like those sticky labels on some of the merchandize we purchase. A label gun was purchased to make the application of the label quick and easy, but removing the label is often a nuisance. Sometimes, the longer a label is stuck to the item, the more difficult it becomes to remove. So it is with the labels we apply to people and labels we accept for ourselves.
Labels hurt. Love heals.
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Have a safe and happy New Years Day and a wonderful 2009.
Stay warm.
Help those who are less fortunate than you.
Listen to the wind...
kansaspoet
Larry |
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Spiritual: December 31, 2008 Issue [#2796]
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