Labels

Hi Friends;

Tell me, what defines us? Can a certain label determine who we are, who we were, or even who we will be?
As many of us with blogs, we occasionally find things linked to us that seem odd at best. For a while now I've received spam about nude female celebrities. Now, anyone who has actually read my blog would find that to be not quite up my alley. Still, somewhere someone labeled it as such and on comes the blog spam. Today, just moments before writing this post, even, I found that my blog has been defined by someone as a blog about nudists. How they go that is seemingly in part due to a post I wrote about the way nudist blogs are being nuked, but I now understand a bit more of the spam I'm receiving and even some of the search words that come up under my stat page.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against nudists. I am a home nudist much of the time- but trust me when I say that you don't want to see that. Still, even though I am not against nudism in any way, that just isn't what this blog is about.
  Just to be direct, let me tell you what this blog is about: It's about me. It's about you! It's about us; how we can help each other, what we find important, and the fact that we care about each other.
 But, is it fair to put a label on something or someone? This blog has a lot to do with homosexuality, dogs, politics, religion, kids, growing and developing..... because, you see, growing and developing is what I am trying to do.  So, I guess I talk about it a bit, and you who comment really help me understand myself and my world better.
  In my life, I've had occasion to be labeled as many different things.  None, no matter how accurate, could even get close to defining me.  But, what they did quite easily, quite quickly, was limit the image I could project to that other person.  After the label, it didn't matter -- in that person's mind, I'd been defined, categorized, and they'd moved on.  You see, it is easier to label someone with an easily codified label than to really seek to understand them.  That's not news, and frankly it's just common sense - there are way too many people in this world to understand each of them.  The best, in my mind, is that we understand ourselves and be kind to everyone else.  Easier said than done...
  So, when I hear of the recent shooting, when I hear the commentators, everyone wants to know why.  What made this person do this?  The problem, the irony, is that we want to put a label on this man, not understand him - and surely not take steps necessary to arrive at a solution to the drives that brought him to that path.  We just really want to to simply have a tag to put on it all and declare it behind us. 
  But, there are some very smart people pointing to things that are just wrong.  They are not simply uncomfortable or inconvenient, they are poisonous.  I'm not so smart to be one of these people, but they are out there.  They are talking about the need for health care, non-petroleum/coal based energy, environment care, humane treatment for prisoners and law reform, equal rights.  What do we hear?  Do we hear the truth, the important things, the needful things? 
  One of the things that has me frustrated with politics is how often the truth falls victim to the brownie points or whatever it is that puts one politician or political party ahead of the other.  They see it is a bid for power, but I see it as a real shame.  In the end, we are private individuals and have the right to tell others what we will of ourselves, but to deceive and lie - to defraud?  No.  For then, the lie becomes the story, the thing people rely on, the hope they hold, and truth becomes inconvenient and a liability to be hidden and denied at all costs.
  So, I beg you; if labels are a must, let them help to point us to the truth, not be a limit of the truth. 
    Hugs.