Beyond Labels

I recently attended a girls’ night at my daughter’s house in Florida.

At one point during the evening, I stopped talking, stopped laughing, and simply looked around the room.

What I saw was beautiful.

The people gathered there came from different backgrounds, different experiences, and different walks of life. Some had beliefs that likely differed from one another. Some had life stories that looked nothing alike.

Yet none of that mattered in that moment.

They were laughing.

They were sharing stories.

They were enjoying each other’s company.

Most importantly, they were accepting one another.

As I sat there watching, I realized something.

The world spends a lot of time telling us why we should be divided.

That room reminded me how much better things look when we choose kindness instead.

The older I get, the less interested I am in telling people what they should believe.

Life has taught me that people arrive at their beliefs through different experiences, different teachings, and different journeys.

What I have become interested in is how we treat one another.

Some people believe being gay is a choice.

Others believe it is something a person is born with, no different than eye color, left-handedness, or a love of music.

I am not writing this piece to settle that debate.

I am writing it because I believe every person deserves kindness.

Every person deserves dignity.

Every person deserves respect.

Whether we agree with someone or not should never determine whether we treat them with compassion.

In today’s world, it sometimes feels as though we have forgotten that.

We have become so focused on labels that we often stop seeing the human being standing in front of us.

We see political parties.

We see religions.

We see race.

We see sexual orientation.

We see differences.

What if we simply saw people?

What if we took the time to learn someone’s story before deciding who they are?

What if we remembered that every person we meet is carrying struggles we cannot see?

What if we chose kindness even when we did not fully understand someone else’s journey?

None of us have lived the exact life another person has lived.

None of us know the battles they have fought, the prayers they have whispered, or the burdens they carry.

Yet we all know what it feels like to want acceptance.

We all know what it feels like to want love.

We all know what it feels like to belong.

Perhaps we have more in common than we realize.

As a person of faith, I have heard many conversations about what the Bible says and what it does not say.

I am not a theologian.

I am not a pastor.

I am not interested in debating scripture.

What I do know is this:

God created every one of us.

Every one of us has flaws.

Every one of us falls short.

Every one of us is worthy of kindness.

A person’s relationship with God is deeply personal. It is a conversation between their heart and their Creator.

My responsibility is not to judge another person’s journey.

My responsibility is to love people well while they are on it.

When I look back at that evening in Florida, I do not remember labels.

I do not remember categories.

I do not remember differences.

I remember laughter.

I remember friendship.

I remember acceptance.

Most of all, I remember a room full of people who allowed one another to simply be human.

In a world that often seems determined to divide us, that felt like a gift.

And perhaps that is where acceptance begins.

Not with agreement.

Not with winning an argument.

But with recognizing the humanity in one another and choosing kindness anyway.

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