labels

 

right
wrong
black
white
good
bad
beautiful
ugly
winner
loser
big
small
best
worst
weird
normal
fat
thin
strong
weak
smart
stupid.
Labels, labels, labels.
Don’t let them tear us apart.
All of these words are judgments that we as individuals and society have created. I believe we encompass all of these opposites within ourselves. At times I think I look thin and other times I think I look fat. Sometimes I feel strong and other times I feel weak. As I was writing this blog, I remembered a friend of mine found a fable I wrote in grade school. So I dug it up to share:

The Rabbits

There once was a rabbit named Rob who thought he was the dumbest rabbit in the world. One reason why he thought that was because he didn’t go to rabbit school. Another reason was because everyone else knew  1 + 1  and Rob didn’t. One day a rabbit named Pat moved in. He was dumber than Rob because Rob knew 0 + 0 but Pat didn’t. Now Rob wasn’t the dumbest rabbit in the world.
Moral: Don’t think you’re the dumbest because there is always one dumber.

Ha! Okay, okay, I know!  There are sooo many things I could say about this story! For starters, I think of morals as something that teach ethical lessons. Not to say “eh, don’t worry about being dumb. There are dumber people out there in the world!” Name calling does not bring people together. The story could have gone like this: Rob didn’t know what 1 + 1 equals. It is not necessary to call him “dumb.”  The point I want to make in sharing this fable, written by a much younger me, is that judging is in the eye of the beholder, in the mind of the individual. What I find attractive, someone else may not. What I find normal, someone else may find weird. Someone may have lost the game but won for themselves because they overcame the fear of playing the game. We just don’t know what others may define as “pretty, ugly, right, wrong, smart or stupid etc.” It is all a matter of perspective and as many people that there are on the planet, that is how many different perspectives there are! If we keep living in this world of placing labels on everything and everyone, we will keep cultivating a divided world. Do you want to keep creating division? We are all one. I am born of love just like you, just like someone in Africa, China or anywhere else on the planet. Labels keep us apart. I want to create peace, find ways to connect with each other and find common ground. What do you want to create in the world?

An invitation: Next time you catch yourself judging or labeling someone or their actions, take a moment and see if you can find acceptance just as they are. If you are in a conversation with that person, try finding a way to communicate that has a foundation of love and connection.

♥much love and light