The classic novel, The Scarlet Letter, displays a theme of labeling and judging people. This goes for many of us, as we are often caught holding a view on a person we hardly know. The whole phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" speaks for this very problem. It is hard to look past one's past, but before a certain extent of wrong doing, people deserve redemption and a second chance. I believe that it is hard to look past one's flaws, but harder to correct one's own.
Nobody is perfect, and people realize when they have made mistakes, but it is impossible to know the whole story and this makes looking past reputation more difficult. I see mistakes as lessons, and to quote the late rapper Guru: "lessons are blessings you should learn through." People continue to make mistakes, but is learning from them that makes us better people. I believe that a person becomes "bad" if they fail to learn from there mistakes and continue doing wrong. This does not always hold true, as many may not experience the negative side or receive punishment for their wrong actions.
This is why i believe it is unjust to place labels on people too soon. I have made mistakes in my life, as any human does, and I do not feel that i can judge someone who is no worse than me. It is hard tow place opinions on people, because you never know what goes on in their lives. I try to follow the golden rule, to treat others as you have been treated. I feel that anyone who has been labelled in any way would agree with me on this view.
I completely agree that people shouldn't put labels on others too soon. If you do, you don't really get to know that person and when you do you'll probably find out that the person's completely different that what you think.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you tom, people do learn from their mistakes. It's mistakes that make people wiser and a better person. I also agree when you say people sometimes become "bad" if they don't learn from their mistakes. They would just be hurting themselves.
ReplyDeleteLabels are definitely an unfortunate fact of life, and even more so in today's world where people are looking for the first answer they find, not necessarily the best or even the right answer. Therefore, labels often stick for a while. Sort of goes against our nation's assertion that people are innocent until proven guilty. With labels it's the other way around.
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