When a child
is born, they never come out with labels. It’s the society that teaches the
child to differentiate people according to the labels. A child is taught to
call others with label and is taught to be a label. Black, white, tall, short,
all these are just the labels. What would one be if the society never gave them
a label? People would be one. There would be just one race – humanity.
Labels are always with us. It is up to us whether
to go with it or abandon it. Every corner we turn, we hear them. From birth the
society, world force feeds us these labels. Eventually we all swallow them. We
learn to digest and accept it. Whoever we are is not just how we look. These
labels blind us from seeing who one really is. Instead it teaches us to see them through our
judgmental eyes.
Once we
choose to accept the label and use the label, we create division. Where there
is division, there is conflict. Conflict gives rise to war. There are
differences all around because people choose labels. They choose to view people
on how they perceive others to be and not on how they actually are.
The ever
continuing conflict between blacks and whites started because of a label. It is
not our differences that divide us. It’s our inability to accept, recognize and
celebrate those differences. So what if someone is black or white, Irish or
Asian? They are still humans who share the same red blood. We share the same
feelings, thoughts. The piano keys are black and white. But when we play them
together it sounds like a million different colors. When we choose labels, we
are choosing smallness over greatness, conflict over peace. As it is said,
united we stand and divided we fall. Together we can stand against it.
The moment
we see a person, we start judging them. We judge and give them a label. We
don’t stop to think that some other might be doing the same to us. We are so
into getting and giving labels that we don’t realize its effects. We don’t
realize what it is doing to us. No matter how modern we claim our society to
be, we are going backwards. Even though we claim to have a degree or have
pursued a career we still have not been able to get over labels. It has been in
our society for such a long time that we don’t even know how to exist without
it. We have accepted it as a way of our life. Everyone is different. They are
unique in their own ways. If everyone is to be same, we would lose our
identity. Our identity stays intact because of our uniqueness.
No baby is
born racist. Yet every baby cries when they hear the cry of others, no matter
the gender, color or culture. It proves that we are meant to connect and care
for others. So, let’s blur the lines between us. Let’s forget that the borders
even exist. Human beings weren’t meant to be slapped with labels. We accept
labels so easily without even doubting them. But labels are not you and labels
are not me. Labels are labels. We are meant to be free. We need to remove these
labels and stop thinking small to be free. Then, we will be able to see others
as they truly are.