Labels
#27 of National Poetry Writing Month
I think this poem is pretty self explanatory.
It seems to me that people have such a love hate relationship with labels.
We love them. We hate them.
We get angry when people don't use them.
We get angry when people do use them.
We get upset when they are used incorrectly.
We grumble that they shouldn't be needed at all when they are used properly.
We insist that others learn how to use them.
We get angry at those who innocently label people as something they are not.
We argue that labels should not be necessary and that we should all just accept each other for who they are.
We take comfort in labels because they help give us an identity and a place to fit in in a world that all too often makes us feel alone and outcast.
We shun labels because we don't want to feel constrained or chained down by the identities others would force upon us.
We need labels.
We don't need labels.
We need to define ourselves somehow.
We shouldn't have to define ourselves for the comfort of others.
Around and around. Back and forth. Good and bad. Necessary and unnecessary.
When will people make up their minds?