It’s very easy to put a label on someone, but is it the right thing to do?  The problem with labeling is that by reducing someone to a single word or phrase, you are overlooking everything else about them as a person.

Is there any single word that can really be used to describe you?  Man, woman, gay, straight, outgoing, shy, athletic, intellectual, thin, fat.  Any of those might apply, but what about everything else?  How can any of us be reduced to a single description?  We’re all far too complex for that kind of simplification.

And it’s even worse than that, because so many descriptions of a person are subjective.  Fat or thin compared to what?  Outgoing or shy compared to whom?  Now you’re not only over-simplifying someone, you’re doing in based on your own opinions of what defines a person’s qualities.

The next time you feel tempted to assign a label to a person, stop and think about who they really are as a person, and whether that label can actually define them.  What are you missing?  Would you want that person to try to define you with a label?

We are all complex, and we should respect that about each other.