People are too complicated to label them

Labels are easily removed from clothes because they bother us or we don't need them. But those we attribute to ourselves and others are often held to be a drunken fence.

In most cases, we want to be characterized as good, smart, honest and beautiful, while we do not respond to negative adjectives. A character is a noun that consists of adjectives, so it is common to say to each other: “Describe yourself in two, three words.”

Then we usually talk about ourselves emphasizing virtues, while we mostly omit flaws, all with good intentions – to please other people, because who will love me if I say that I am impatient, selfish and arrogant. No matter how hard I try, people will come to their own conclusion and judge what kind of person I am, so there is no need for me to create an idealized image of myself.

I wonder why labels are such an important thing in life, when they in most cases depend on subjective opinion? There are probably a hundred people who will think I’m smart, and it’s possible that there are the same or even more people who will think I’m stupid. Either way, it’s better to turn out stupid than fall out from a plane.

It is easier to condemn than to understand

So, in certain situations, we “turn out” to be smart or stupid, but that does not mean that we are generally smart or stupid (no one has yet undergone scientific research on “smartness” and “stupidity”). Unfortunately, we so simply and nonchalantly make judgments about who is smart and who is stupid, who is good, who is not, etc. It is very easy to make a judgment to mark a man without the possibility of forgiveness or other chance.

I think labeling blocks us a lot in trying to show more humanity to each other, because usually the label we stick to another person, whether positive or negative, prevents us from seeing the bigger picture because we don’t see the forest from the tree.

This one characteristic “sticks out”, making us base our opinion on it, missing the main thread – objectivity and the fact that we are all equal and deserve human treatment.

I know from personal experience that labeling ourselves and others is a very deeply ingrained habit, which is difficult to change, because in each of us there are value systems by which certain behaviors, and more importantly – generally judge people and ultimately condemn them.

The problem arises when we act someone’s action, characterized as good or bad, entirely on that person’s character, without going into a deeper analysis of why this is so. Going below the surface of things means trying to understand, but understanding does not necessarily mean approval. This is not an easy task, so we often save energy and resort to the “short procedure” method.

Everything starts from us

How quickly and recklessly we are willing to label someone speaks to how sharply we judge ourselves. If we are kind to ourselves, we will be merciful to others, if we are aware of our own imperfections, and yet we accept them, we will also accept the imperfections of others.

Either way, if we claim that we don’t care about other people’s opinions, we need to know that others don’t care about our opinions either. I believe that by accepting this, the urge for “expert” assessment and evaluation of everyone around us, but also ourselves, is reduced. To really know someone means to look under the stickers, and to never get to know a description in two or three words.