Today
I must warn myself again against labeling people and putting them in
little boxes—seeing them in one-dimension only. I just returned
from SUBWAY, having gotten my daily tuna sandwich. I got into a
discussion with the manager (who I see daily) and he expressed some
interest in other job opportunities. My first response was that I
knew of a national company in the restaurant business nearby which
ran food service at the university. He said, “Thanks, I might
check that out.” Yet I could tell by the tone of his voice that I
had hurt him deeply. I apologized for pigeonholing him. He then
said he had coached and that he would love to have a coaching career.
The
Jehovah Witness have a saying: “We are united but not uniformed.”
I wish that could be said of all humanity—we are united but not
uniformed—we do not engage in the practice of emasculating either
ourselves or others. What unites us is the sea of possibility that
each and every one entails. We desperately need to pray that we not
enslave ourselves or others with crippling labels. Until we stop
it, we will all be caricatures of our true selves. The problem is that
label making gives us an immense sense of control and security. God
knock these phony props out from under us. Amen.
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