The House of [Label]

The need for labels arises at very early age, which come in multiple presentations. Some of those labels are easier to identify than others, but all are equally important in determining the way a person is perceived by others. There are cultural labels that one is born with as well as those used to associate oneself with a certain group of people outside of cultural ties. There are also those neglected labels that one seeks to avoid due to the negative connotations attributed to them. Finally, there are also clothing labels that seem to be at the pinnacle of pandemonium. The form they take does not matter because the labels are inescapable. Everything has a label in this world however difficult to identify it might be. In the same way, every human being whether the person knows and understands it or not.
Human beings are born with a label of which they cannot dispose. That label is the one that connects one with the ancestors that inhabited the land in which one is born hundreds of years before. In other circumstances it was a different land, but one equally derives one’s roots, culture and values from those that came before. Such label is undeniable because it is present everyday in the skin, the language, the food, the holiday celebrations, the people, and the surroundings. Positive or negative. That is the label one cannot ever escape. It embodies who one is; and as such, it must be embraced. Otherwise, it becomes a torture tool for identity.
Then, there are other labels that perhaps carry a bigger weight because one chooses to appropriate them. Such are the labels of organizations one joins, or causes one supports or the views and beliefs one has. These are perhaps the labels one most easily acknowledges because one freely chooses them, but one must be careful not to let a single label be the source of empowerment. If such was the case, then the rest of the labels one has proudly attained are unimportant, and one becomes only that one thing which the overpowering label represents. One becomes the label itself rather than one who advocates that label, which should be the goal.
There are also some seemingly dreadful labels one seeks to avoid at all costs, in some cases without success because they seem to evolve over time. One might think that a certain label is suitable. But as soon as that label acquires a negative connotation, one finds a way to sever all ties with it in order to maintain a reputation. Those labels vary in kind. A masquerade does not cover all the imperfections one desires to hide. There are some that one cannot avoid due to the way one carries oneself.
Finally, clothing lines are at the root of the power of labels. As young children, one notices what kind of clothes or shoes the other children at school are wearing and innocently criticizes them or demands to obtain the same items. This problem only grows with time as one has access to more expensive items whether such items are garments, shoes, accessories, attending a certain school, a car, a house, etc. The list simply grows because such items carry in their label a status. Those labels carry with them the promise of a better quality of life. It starts with clothes but it quickly moves on to other items. As time progresses, those labels are as deeply embedded through an unconscious attainment as those that one consciously appropriates or those one is born with. But labels should be the center of one’s universe. Yet they are inescapable because it is through labels that one is accepted or identified by the rest of society. Unfortunately, the labels one is able to afford in the financial world are the labels society considers important. Hence, the struggle to surround oneself with said labels.
There are thousands of people in the world that are labeled by others without those labeled knowing or understanding what the labels they have mean but who also do not care about the labels that they are known through since their primal worry is whether there will be food on the table that afternoon or whether they will wake up the next day. It is nearly impossible to evade the reality one represents because one labels oneself with every action, every word, and every step. Whether positive or negative, one must learn to live in a labeled society.

xoxo,
Poison Drops


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