Your More Than A Label - Essay Example

You Are More Than A Label The effects of such labels on these kids and people in general are all but positive. When people start to label children ina certain way, at first, children develop unease and irritation with the label. The label bothers them. They get irritated when someone calls them by the label. Some children tend to remain reserved and are thus gradually pushed into social exclusion. Other children that are labeled indulge in fights and abuse with the offenders. The child does not have a healthy environment to grow and develop in psychologically and emotionally.

The effects penetrate to the family of the children and the parents are particularly concerned and worried. In an attempt to get the labels off their children, parents try things like changing children’s school or shifting to a different city. Any decision they take costs them a lot of time, effort, and also money. As children grow up with the labels, their irritation and repulsiveness toward the labels recedes and they start to unintentionally accept the labels. Labels bother them no more.

They accept the labels as a fundamental part of their identity. This serves as a sign that reflects that the child has been mentally tortured and psychologically harmed to the extent where he/she does not sense the gravity of the label as something negative. Although this happens gradually and unintentionally, yet its effects reflect in the behavior of the children as they grow up. If a child is given a certain label because of being diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and ADD, the child understands that he/she is integrally linked with alcohol in people’s perception.

Drinking and becoming alcoholic is much easier for such a labeled individual as compared to others that are not expected to do such things. The labeled individuals easily endorse and adopt roles and behaviors that are expected of them according to their label. In this way, these individuals not only put their own health and life in risk, but also pose risks to the safety of others around them. A potential example of this is the accidents caused because of drunk driving. Pastor Joel Osteen puts forth a wonderful example of how powerful can labeling be if people accept the labels they are assigned and yet how fake it can be if people do not get rid of the labels they are assigned, “Albert Einstein’s teacher told Einstein’s father, “No matter what Albert does, he will never be successful”…friends, people don’t determine our destiny, God does” (Osteen cited in “Pastor Joel Osteen”).

Neither Albert Einstein’s father nor Albert himself accepted the label that Albert was given by his teacher and the rest is history. In order to address this issue, there needs to be a two-way approach. On one hand, children should be discouraged from labeling one another; on the other hand, children should be taught not to take the labels they are given because they are capable of getting and being much more than what others think they can. Works Cited:“Pastor Joel Osteen - Dont Let People Label You (1).

” Youtube. 28 May 2010. Web. 7 April 2013.