The world is a place full of labels: black, white, athletic, smart, beautiful, ugly, gay, straight, skinny, fat. You may fit into one or multiple of these labels that were created by society, but that doesn’t mean you must label yourself and define yourself as these things.
Just because you have characteristics that may make you look or behave in any given manner does not mean you are defined by that one word. We are so much more than one word. We are intricate, complex, unique and interesting human beings, every last one of us.
Too often we are placed in a small box at birth, only for this box to grow over time, filled with words and stereotypes that people expect us to fit in. You’re born with dark skin, for example, and you’re placed into the “black” box. As you and your peers learn about history, for example, they place new words into your box. “Dangerous,” “threatening,” “good at basketball,” “notorious,” and “subordinate” can all be examples of some of the prejudices you may be faced with. These things don’t even have to be true about you yet they’re inevitably placed in your box. You grow up and realize you’re gay. Before people know the truth about you, your box may be filled with pleasant and beautiful words to describe who you’re supposed to be, labeling you as “privileged,” “educated,” “popular,” “beautiful,” and “strong.” The world learns a new, simple fact about you and automatically society begins filling your box of labels higher and higher but this time with hurtful and ignorant words: “abnormal,” “minority,” “misunderstood,” “unlike the rest of us,” “a waste of space on this earth.”
Whatever you may be called, you are called something. A stranger will walk by you on the street and may already have multiple feelings or assumptions about you just by the color of your skin, the way you dress, how you present yourself, or who your partner on the left of you is. They think they know something about you when the reality is, they know absolutely nothing.
Your sexuality, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and religion don’t define who you are or where you came from. Labels are nothing but toxic, creating generalized stereotypes and standards to live up to just because of the words that were thrown into your box whether at birth or as you’ve grown up.
It’s our job to break down these walls, throw away the boxes of things filled with words and ideas that others think make us who we are. It’s our job to create our own identity. As the video above says, “Who we truly are is not skin deep.” No stranger can look at you at quick glance and understand what makes you tick, your personality, or the greatness of who you are or are striving to become.
So, who would you be if the world never gave you a label?
