We Don’t Belong In Boxes
Stop putting labels on us
If you want the truth, I’ve never been entirely comfortable with labels in the past. After all — I was bullied growing up, and so for me, labels felt like a new way of othering. Strangely to my perspective, it seemed like ‘we’ were doing the othering ourselves. By the ‘we,’ I am, of course, talking in generalization. I couldn’t understand labels, and at the time, how they could be useful. I got a lot of backlash for that, and I still can’t see how that can be healthy — but I believe that’s an article for another time.
Today I want to write about labels. About how, while yes they are useful, and they are a fantastic addition to vocabulary, allowing us to find our ‘tribes,’ they should be used with caution. Because we don’t belong in boxes, and what are labels but a dressed-up box?
What am I talking about, however? I’m talking about how, for some people, labels become their defining characteristic. How labels are often not treated as a ‘short hand’ to clue someone in on facets of what makes us human, but as the be-all and end-all. That is where the usage of labels can become unhealthy. Once again, what is a label but a fancy cardboard box?
While I love using labels, and I use them frequently when introducing myself to clue people in very quickly how I identify and the important facets…
