Labels and Signs

Labels Labels Labels…. or is it Signs Signs Signs everywhere there’s a sign blocking up the scenery.

Why is it we are so obsessed with labels and signs?  Everywhere you look there are more definitions. You no longer know what anything means until someone explains their definition of whatever it is to you.  Please don’t do anything without a thorough exploration of all the labels/signs / personal definitions for a particular location/activity.   Only God knows what happens should you get it wrong.  Someone might get offended.  And if someone is offended, the world will end.

Are labels necessary or are they a way of control and manipulation?  Who makes the definitions for all our labels?  What does it mean to be a man?  What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be married or in a relationship?  What is the definition of failure or the definition of happiness?  What does it mean if the definition doesn’t work for us? Are we allowed to make up a new one?

 

Are labels important?  Are we only hanging onto them because we need a system of measurement to
make ourselves feel better; feel superior over someone else?  If it is all truly arbitrary and up to the person, what measure do we use?  How do we decide who is worthy and who is not?  Who has made it, who has lost? Is it our place to decide such things?

 

The major rebellion of youth is against the labels.   It is against being defined by someone else’s standards, someone else’s idea of success, happiness, peace, well-being, and what your life should look like.  Are we better when we fit into the mold a label puts us into?  Or is it just easier to concede, conform, and go along with the flow?

 

At one point we all bucked the system.  We all moved out, got our place, and claimed to live by our own rules.  But did we really?  Or did the labels win out over time? Many roll their eyes at the youth of today.  The claim of “back in my day…..”  resounds from one generation to the next.  After all, our grandparents walked uphill both ways to school and back and there were 10ft of snow to trudge through all year long. 

 

Were things better then?  Or do we just label them that way in our memories?  Was it better when all the unconventional was hidden?  There are lots of new labels coming out every day.  The need for them has always been.  Or maybe the need to lose labels altogether is greater.