To Define is to Limit
- Elizabeth Peter
- Mar 26, 2017
- 2 min read
Our entire system depends solely on one thing– labels. Objectifying and categorizing each other to fit certain characteristics or attributes one may possess, seems to be the recurrent theme of today's century. However, this simple-minded stereotypical practice deprives an individual of their basic human right, by stripping them of their potential and capabilities to delve into and explore the world around them. These classifications are doing no justice to anybody, as Oscar Wilde once said, “To define is to limit”.
Source: sadieanddasie.wordpress.com
We label based off minute details we notice in a person; their ability to be either good or bad at something, but never in between.
If a child fails at a certain subject, our compassion and belief in their abilities deteriorates because they do not fit the ideal standards in which we have been brainwashed to believe are necessary.
Source: The Washington Post
If a doctor decides to quit to become an artist, we condemn them because we feel that they are denying the world access to them and their abilities, as they are assumed to be great at what they do –but that’s not what life is about.
Source: giphy.com
Life is not dictated by what we can offer the world, even though that is what we’ve been taught since the very beginning, but it is about what we can offer ourselves first. It’s as they say, “worry about yourself first, not others”.
Source: goodreads
Depriving yourself from the self-satisfaction you can attain by doing what other people want you to do or be is the greatest injustice you could do to yourself and to the world. It’s the reason your happiness lays a dormant emotion.
Source: giphy
Our world is extremely dependent on these labels, as it also defines our heritage, ethnicity and nationalities, and in the beginning, it gave us a sense of belonging; to be a part of something. These days however, it causes strife against one another, as the simple things become offensive and insolent –and we take pride in that.
Source: giphy
Hurting each other in order to fit the social norms these labels have set for us has become astoundingly prevalent, that we no longer feel the need to accept or be united with each other. Defining limits us into becoming homogeneous individuals who lack distinctiveness and originality, because you start losing yourself, when you start becoming like others.
Comments