Do you ever wonder about what labels fit you?
I'm definitely not an optimist but I'm not really a pessimist either. Realist seems like it might be a good fit although I'm a bit iffy on exactly what that entails. Sometimes I'm cynical, but does that make me a cynic? I'll admit to being sarcastic but that's all in good fun. I think I lean more toward being a conservative than a liberal but I'm not really sure what those mean either.
It makes me think of when I was in college and was making playlists of my music. I wasn't ever really sure what fell in which genre so I grouped them into things like "skater," "doo wop," "loud stuff," "dance," and "clap your hands." I've never felt like I'm very good at knowing what labels mean what.*
Or when my mom made me register to vote.** I didn't know what party to register with, so I told her some of my opinions and she told me which party was closest to that. That seems kind of wrong to me. I know it's an inherent flaw in the two-party system, but there probably aren't that many people who actually toe the party line so they don't really fall fully into that camp.
Labels are funny like that. They help us make sense out of the world but, as John Green said, "the truth denies simplicity." Things are usually complicated. Take the other day for example. I was following through on my plan of getting back into shape by walking to the library to get a book. I was wearing my new running shoes, the weather was gorgeous and my iPod had a fully charged battery. All good things. I ended up with three blisters, a stabbing pain in my foot, and the most annotated book I've ever seen. And yet, it was a good day. All of those things made me happy.
I'm not really sure why I started talking about this. Probably partly because I've been watching a post-apocalyptic tv show*** and it's all about who you were and who you are. The constant labeling of people "us" versus "them" shows how distrustful everyone can become.
Sometimes it seems like the sole purpose of labels is exclusion. But I know that isn't all there is to it because labels can include people too; tie them together.
Maybe it's just that labels describe people in broad strokes but the closer you look the less it works until it all falls apart. Like how macroscopic physics just doesn't work on the microscopic scale. People are too rich and complicated to ever be exactly one thing. And if they were, wouldn't it be boring?
*I'd really like to know the definition of "hipster."
**I believe that voting is a responsibility and a privilege. You have an obligation to vote but you shouldn't vote if you aren't informed on the issues at hand. I don't stay informed so I, generally, don't vote.
***Survivors. It's really interesting; kind of depressing too but all those post-apocalyptic things are. It's not a depressing as Breaking Bad. I've only managed to watch half an episode of that.
