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I Am Not A Label
Poetry Prompt — Day 1
why can’t you let me breathe?
why do I need to be placed inside a box?
I just want to be me,
free of all these labels
that dictate who I should be.
Social labeling is a persuasion technique that consists of providing a person with a statement about his or her personality or values (i.e., the social label) in an attempt to provoke behavior that is consistent with the label.
I view social labels as a construct that separates us from our own humanity. Social labels cause us to judge and make assumptions about each other, and they deprive us of our freedom to be who we are. They place us into these boxes filled with all these predetermined beliefs, ideas, and stereotypes.
I have been guilty of judging others based on certain social labels and that is something that I would love to let go and bury forever. For instance, I have a family member who would like to become a rapper, and immediately I judged his choice based on my programmed assumptions of rappers.
Instead, I should have embraced him for expressing his creativity, and support him because he is brave enough to follow his dreams. Him writing rap songs is no different from me writing poetry. We are both expressing ourselves creatively.
So, Sahil Patel, the one thing I would love to change in myself is to detach from labels, and not judge or stereotype others based on these stupid predetermined illusions that are planted in my head. I am a work in progress as I am shedding these judgements every day.
Sahil Patel has issued a poetry prompt to:
Write a poem about the thing that you want to change in yourself?
If you would like to participate, please tag Sahil Patel in your piece. I included his entry for this prompt where he wrote about being an overthinker, something we can all relate to. Thank you Sahil for this poetry prompt.
I would like to tag: Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) | James G Brennan | Imad | Carolyn Riker | Kyomi O'Connor | John Uzuegbu | Ching Ching | Alice Floris | Kevin Jahleel Ishimwe | @Ivette Cruz or anyone else who would like to participate.
Thank you for reading and thank you Ivette Cruz for creating a space where poets feel at home.
