Of Naming

Names, in theory, allow us to communicate to one another more effectively but often times they have more detrimental effects. It simply amazes me how every society is able to come to agreement on names. Yes, some people will argue with what category certain books or movies fall into, but for the most part we all use the same accepted terms for the world around us. These names allow the listener to better visualize and understand the story. This type of simplistic system works great for most objects, but the problem arises when one tries to use this same method for describing people.

If you ask someone to describe themselves, they will most likely tell you about things they enjoy and what they do with their free time. This type of encompassing view of the self is never translated to others. When we tell our friends a story involving other people, we will usually distill the other characters down to one minor detail that makes up the individual. I find myself doing this all the time whether it be calling someone "fat", "black", or "ugly". Whenever I am telling the story I believe that I am doing my friends a service by using the detail that I feel helps them best understand the people I somehow interacted with. This type of thinking is nothing more than a crutch. We feel the need to give out one minor detail of a human being, which in turn filters everything else that they say or do, because we have the need to neatly categorize everything.

This type conversing behind one's back is nothing compared to the injustice of calling someone that kind of name directly to their face. All people are unique, complex individuals that cannot be seen through a bottleneck of one word. How we are every able to move past these banal terms is beyond me. All one can do is make a change in their life and hope that others follow. The ability to look beyond the initial impression we get from people and giving them an unhampered opportunity to voice their opinions is something that everyone should have the right to.

So I am male, white, a student, a brother, a son, a boyfriend and yet none of these define who I am in the least bit. The more than we can attribute to one person, the less they are any of them and the more they become an individual. I’m just me.