Labels

I have been thinking a lot about labels recently and the definition they give to our lives. I belong to an online quilt mailing list and there has been a discussion recently about labels. Several members of the list, "came out" (their words, not mine) as conservative Republicans. Their trepidation was obvious as they thought they might be the scourge of the more progressive members of the list which are plenty. The reality is that hardly anyone has even commented about it except for the conservative members. Frankly, I don't have time in my life to judge others for the labels they have applied to themselves. In thinking about all of this, I tried to come up with a list of labels that might be applied to my life:

Dad, friend, son, grandson, teacher, art quilter, farmer, Christian, liberal, progressive, gay, Democrat, kind, open minded, compassionate, polite, and so on.

The funny thing after making the list is that I am defined by all of my labels, but I am not bound by them. I believe that if we spent less time talking about labels and more time seeing people for their hearts, souls, and core goodness, our world would be a gentler, more love filled place. I hope I am able to look beyond labels of people who are probably the exact opposite of my own and still see their worth and need for acceptance. If the last couple months have taught me anything, it is probably that the labels we embody are important and vital, but most times the only label I really need is just Joshua.

Have a great day and a good start to the weekend.

Peace,

Joshua