What do I think of the word label? Distinction. We can’t say clearly whether this is a good or bad thing because it doesn’t matter what we use the labels for.
This is my entry for Writing prompt # 11: Labels by @JonicaBradley
Labels are most often useful. With it, we can categorize things, either between our papers in the office or between storage boxes in the kitchen.
We can label our boxes at a move, which can also be a great help when you need to unpack from the boxes in your new house. Now, you might think I’m approaching the topic from the wrong side because I don’t have to write about tangible labels, but ones that determine the place of things in certain categories. Collective names. But that's exactly what I'm doing, I think that's exactly what we do with little sticky notes and captions. When I move, I don't write "pan, wooden spoon, cheese grater" on the box, but "kitchen stuff." But it may not really be the right approach to the topic, but I don’t want to write about that either. And I don’t even think there’s a good or bad approach, because that’s exactly what these prompts are about. What I think, what you think and how differently we can see things. Right?
Labels that we put on top of each other.
These labels are definitely bad, even if they have a positive message. I'm telling you you're smart. This is bad? Yes! Imagine telling you this, nothing else. How do you feel? Do you feel I paid attention to you? Do you know why you are smart? Imagine you are a small child. You do what you want, what you enjoy, you don’t even know what’s good or what’s bad. And I'm telling you you're smart. Do you know why I said that? Do you know what you did well? Do you feel my care? No way! I just said something.
Or let’s look at this with a negative message label. I'm telling you you're annoying! Not YOU are annoying, but maybe the annoying thing you’re doing right now. But you’re not always annoying, and you’re not for everyone. This is a label. I labeled you saying you're annoying but you're not.
I mentioned in a previous article that I took part in a communication training where labels were discussed at the beginning of the training. I found the things I learned there very useful because many times we don’t even notice how many errors we have in our communication. This is especially interesting when talking to someone who is important to us. Let’s go back to the example where I called you annoying.
Imagine a specific situation. We are a couple, I read a very important official letter in complex language on my laptop, which is important for me to read and understand carefully. You don't know what I'm doing with the laptop, you're just vacuuming the room. I say to you "woe how annoying you are!" How do you feel about that? Will you be confused? Will you be mad at me? Likely! But I might tell you, "It bothers me a lot that you're making noise right now because I'm reading an important letter. I'd be grateful if you stopped doing that now." How do you feel about that? There is no label, I just told you how it affects what you are doing and what effect it would have on me if you stopped it.
There are plenty more examples to say, but the point is simple. A certain act does not yet endow us with positive or negative qualities or labels. Just as no one has the right to label others because of religion, sexuality, nationality, or political opinion or skin color.
I would rather not give an example of these, because it would evoke strong tempers in me. Although these types of labels are usually told by malice to us. And the labels mentioned earlier are used out of habit and inattention.
And what is the meaning of the label in this sense? Judgment.
lead image source : Pixabay
I don't like it when people push labels into others, which affects how people look into them based on how they were labeled. It's also set into our culture which is unfortunate.