My Label Maker

Last week I cleaned out my spice cupboards, used my new labeler to spin out tags for "ginger" and "nutmeg" and "chili powder."

Labels make things easy, convenient. You can identify an item right away. Inspired, I labeled new file folders. I made sure the Christmas boxes were clearly marked. Then I got carried away and made a heart-covered label for the cupboard where my husband keeps his breakfast cereal: "Christi loves Paul." It had nothing to do with the cereal, but made me smile.

I have to say, though, some things are better off unlabeled. Some labels don't mean what they say. "Easy" and "fast" and "convenient" are not words we want to use in assocation with human beings. Labels separate us. When it comes to Big Life Concepts, labels can be confusing, alienating.

What's the last thing you labeled? A file folder, the inside collar of a kid's jacket, a CD? Did you use a sharpie pen? How about tape or glue? Or . . . (big question here) have you ever felt labeled in life, categorized? Freewrite about labels.

(Here are more thoughts on the spiritual implications of labeling.)