Labels

Unbelievable how fast we human beings are stamped with labels. In primary school my label was the talkative, smart little girl from 6b. In high school my label changed a little and i became the short meru girl in form 3 east. During my language course i was described as the little Meru girl from precious blood. In Germany i´m the the little black girl from Kenya "die kleine schwarze aus Kenia".

To be honest, i don't mind labels, I really don´t! And i will tell you why. Stamping labels is a natural process. Human beings are naturally lazy and always in search of the easiest way to distinguish this one from that one. The most dominant character becomes the distinguishing trail and that's the label.

The only problem with labels is the prejudice and biasness which comes with it. The assumptions that come with belonging to a certain label. The assumptions come with judgement. The problem with judgements is not that they are not true, the major problem is that they truncate a whole person to one single character. We assume the new Italian girl at work can make the best pasta and pizza. The possibility that this girl can not even cook is instantly ruled out. The Indian guy loves curry, the German boss loves beer, the Asian waitress  is shy, the Spanish postman is gay, the blond model is dumb, the Kikuyu loves money! So many assumptions!

My being a Meru for example, leads to the assumption, that i am not capable of pronouncing the letter "L". A Meru would most probable say something like this `rife is rike a frower`. Most people assume that i can not play basketball just because i´m short. That is actually true, but that's not the point. The point is, no one would give me the opportunity in the first place because it is already assumed that i can not. As a Kenyan, i´m expected to be able to run very fast. People can not believe it when i tell them that i was always last when we ran cross countries in school. My black label makes people assume that i can rap, dance and i love chicken. Now i have to laugh, because i actually do love chicken :-).

A person is not a label.

How nice would it be if we were all open-minded? Allowing the other people to surprise us.

I´m the little black lady from Kenya, yes, but i´m also so much  more. Just like you are so much more than what i might think you are.

Let us not allow labels to make assumptions hence judgements for us about others.

You are more!

Lots of luv,
ItsRose_Beth