Letter to the editor - Jan. 17

Labels shouldn’t define us

I am a generation X, white, male, hetero, red-headed, independent, veteran, college graduate, teacher, student, historian, father, brother, American of Polish / German descent.

Those are my labels.

But how many of them are actually necessary?

We love to put labels on ourselves, to “identify” with a group. We think that doing this makes us a “part of something.” I would argue that each of these labels separates us from each other. The label “generation X” by itself separates me from over 80% of the population; each additional label separates me further.

Some labels, however, are useful. If I’m not feeling well, I want to know that the person I see about it has the label “physician.” If I ever go missing, I hope that someone would be able to come up with as many labels as possible to help the authorities find me. Otherwise, do these labels really matter? I don’t care about my mechanics’ other labels, just that they can fix my car.

Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” We judge each other daily, not only on each other’s visual attributes, but by each other’s labels. If we truly want equality, we need to change this, and place more value on “the content of their character” than on their labels.

I’ve listed my labels, but I don’t define myself by them. I am merely a person. If you meet me, judge me by the content of my character. You may like me, you may not, that is your preference, but don’t exclude me from consideration based on a label.

Randy Saltzmann

Clovis