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Topic: Labels (01/05/04)
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TITLE: CAN WE LABEL PEOPLE? By Anthony David 01/09/04 |
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By
Dr.M.Anthony David Swaroop Kumar
Whenever I need to get some information from the web, I log on to a search engine and type in a word. This word is a label for my topic. My search engine searches the entire mass of web pages in the World Wide Web (Internet) and processes them. In a few seconds, it brings to me a list of all the web pages, which tally with my label. Very convenient indeed.
Labeling is very useful. It helps me access information. And fast too.
But is that all? We also label people, most of the tome. Let me illustrate. The moment I am introduced to someone, I get to know her name. The name triggers off a series of thoughts in my mind- computer. Is she a Christian? Where exactly is she from? What is her ethnic background? If she is a Christian, is she a Protestant or a Catholic? Which church does she worship with? Is she a committed believer? Labels, labels and more labels. They pop up into my mind in a flash as it were. I ask her a few questions to sort out the labels. Indeed, I classify her.
How did labeling begin? In Genesis 2:19 & 20, we find Adam, the first man giving the first ever labels. God makes him label all the animals. Later on Adam gives a name-label to his better half, that beautiful lady God provides to him as a help meet, Eve. (Gen 3:20)
Is there a flip side to labeling people? Indeed there is. We sometimes find someone who is ‘unlabelable’. But because we have to label, we put them under some label or other, arbitrarily. This will not do justice to them. Another problem with labeling people is this. We tend to have a prejudiced view about them.
For instance, I may presume that all people coming from say, India, are self-centered. I will then tag this label to every person who happens to be an Indian. This may not be true. In fact it rarely is.
They say, God makes a man and then He breaks the mould before making another man. We might have had a bad experience with one or two people. We then generalize and tag this label to all people like them. If one Sikh person dupes me once, I begin labeling all Sikhs as dupes or con men. Is it fair?
Each one of us is unique because God made us so. The word of God says that we are made in the image of God. There is a divine spark in each and every one of us. So, we should not label people as soon as we encounter them. It is better to keep an open mind about them. It is helpful to focus on the good side of every man or woman we meet. Because we are all made in the image of God, we all have a bright side to our character. It is up to us to find it and focus on it. If we do so, we will have good labels for all people.
Labeling materials is an essential time –saving device. But we need to take care while labeling people. We need to focus on their positives while labeling them. This helps us to love one another. Then we will be obeying the second commandment, which the Lord gave us. He asked us to love our neighbours as ourselves. (Luke 10:27b) Keeping his commandment makes us love Him too.
Labeling people becomes an exciting exercise as we take up this challenge. What is the best feature of that awfully difficult person at our workplace? We need to go on a journey of discovery before we find it! Once we do that, we will have positive labels and positive thinking too. There will be less of hatred and spite. Then we can truly label our society as God’s Kingdom on earth.
Now, what label will you give me?
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