“She is a bleeding heart, Buddhist vegetarian do-gooder who never amounted to anything.”
The quote above is a description I’ve heard of me. It is not accurate, was most likely said in fun, and is also hurtful. We tend to make snap judgments about each other for our own comfort.
I recently saw someone post a comment that began with, “All you liberals….”
I learned long ago that labels are limiting. I was a special education teacher for 25 years. I often heard my students described as “he is Down Syndrome” and I remember saying, “No, he is (his NAME), and he has Down Syndrome.” We are all more than a label.
Labels are not only limiting they are a cop-out. It’s the easy way to make a point without considering your impact, and judging others without any knowledge of them.
We have a neighbor within sight of us who enjoys driving over in his golf cart to share his current view of the world. I remind him often that if he has a heart attack shoveling his driveway, I will be the one who shows up to help him, AND, he’s not going to ask if I’m a Republican, he’s going say thank you.
This is a great time to take a breath, consider the potential of what good can come from this intensely uncertain and difficult time, and connect with each other beyond the comfort of labels.
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