Identified and Labeled
When we categorize someone as a woman or a man, it isn’t just an observation like whether it is day or night. It is a judgement. Certain roles and rules suddenly apply to that person. Are they too masculine or too feminine? Identified and labeled! Are they not masculine enough? Are they not feminine enough? Identified and labeled! Are their pecs, breasts, muscles and genitals worthy of pursuit! Identified and labeled! Do they seem to have a large bitch or jerk propensity! Identified and labeled!
After all these and a dozen more tabulations are made, we decide whether or not we will engage the person and whether or not they can be an asset to us. And then, we sit and we endlessly ponder why more people can’t be friendly and open just like us. The fact is that after all of our tabulations, we actually believe that we know the person because we have labeled them so deftly as if they were a South American butterfly that we had killed and mounted and identified and labeled.
All men and all women are so much more than we can see. They are so much more than their gender, bodies, financial and educational level. They are dreaming, feeling, upset, scared, unsure, anxious, complex beings powered by a spirit that they are trying to connect with to find the instructions on what to do next just like you and I. Give them a break. Hold your gossip, give a little praise, forget the well timed snide remark or look and forgive them. Make their life a little easier and not harder. Everybody is having a day just like you have had. You know what it felt like. If someone had been kind to you on one of those days, it would have meant more than gold to you. You have that power. Go ahead, give them a break and a kind word. You’ll both be better for it and the world will get a little brighter.
(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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