BAD LABELS

I imagine one of the first things we did…when we humans realized we were smart

was to give everything a label…so we could tell everything apart.

I’m a human, that’s an elephant, that’s a bird…that’s a manatee.

That’s a rock, that’s a tiger, that’s a flower…that’s a tree.

But sometime in our history…way back in humanities archives

we smart humans allowed those labels to control our very lives.

We began to see differences in each other that we hadn’t noticed there before

and suddenly I’m a human, you’re a human…wasn’t good enough anymore.

We were all humans once…I was me and you were you

until I became a Muslim, you a Catholic, me an immigrant…you a Jew.

I was white, you were black…I was yellow, you were red and I was grey.

You were German, I was French, you were straight and I was gay.

Certainly some labels can be beneficial when used to assist both you or me…

You have epilepsy, I’m near-sighted, you have asthma…I am gluten free.

When we use our labels for good…then good is who we’ll be

but when we use our labels for bad it leads to hate and bigotry.

For labels cannot tell us what’s inside a person’s heart

and in the end...all bad labels do...is push us all apart.

Which makes me long for a time when we weren’t so smart…

when everyone agreed…

that human…

only human…

is all the only label we would need.