I'm a huge fan of reading labels at the grocery store. They serve a purpose. They're informative.
There's another kind of label that I'm not so much a fan of, even though I often create it. It's the label I give to the alcoholic, the gang-banger, the drug addict, the criminal or the pregnant teen. These labels may be factual, but the issue arises when we place all of those people into a group that is lesser than the group in which we place ourselves.
Which leads me to the next label...
The label we inherently give ourselves when we begin dishing out demeaning labels to others is "arrogant."
We are all the same. We are all broken. Some have just made different mistakes than we have. Realizing that the gang-banger is different and not lesser increases our ability to be compassionate. That's a label I think we'd all appreciate.
There's another kind of label that I'm not so much a fan of, even though I often create it. It's the label I give to the alcoholic, the gang-banger, the drug addict, the criminal or the pregnant teen. These labels may be factual, but the issue arises when we place all of those people into a group that is lesser than the group in which we place ourselves.
Which leads me to the next label...
The label we inherently give ourselves when we begin dishing out demeaning labels to others is "arrogant."
We are all the same. We are all broken. Some have just made different mistakes than we have. Realizing that the gang-banger is different and not lesser increases our ability to be compassionate. That's a label I think we'd all appreciate.