Seth Godin had a fascinating post about a human rights group that posted signs around his college reading:

On Wednesday
Wear Blue Jeans
If You Are Gay

This of course caused a great deal of discussion and debate. Every person who had read the sign was forced to make a decision about what they were going to wear the next day and what that would mean.

This example relates directly to our post from yesterday. We all like to regulate our interactions with others. In Seth’s example, the human rights group threw a monkey wrench into our illusion. No matter what you would have worn people would have made assumptions about your sexual identity.

We may attempt to control our interactions by telling people about our personality traits, explaining our ideals and describing hobbies (or even if we attempt to control interactions by being as secretive and evasive as possible), but this is ultimately something we need to let go of. When we label ourselves we limit ourselves to behaviors or ideologies that fit the label.

For example, how would you feel if you’d unwittingly worn jeans on Wednesday and found out about the sign when you got to school? Conversely, how would you feel if you had worn khakis? Would you feel differently? Would you spend the whole day explaining that you didn’t know about the sign?

Notice your reactions the next time someone labels you in public. How do your reactions change based on your identification with the label? For example, I used to love being called a “Trekkie” in high school. The first thing I told people when I met them was that I was a Trekkie. However, I would get extremely annoyed when people described me as “nice.” Being “nice” seemed uninteresting and bland. Now, I no longer introduce myself as “Laura the Trekkie.” However I’ve noticed I do still get annoyed when I am described as “nice,” I guess I’m still coming to terms with that. Are you the same as the labels you place on yourself? How much of your identity is wrapped up in labels?

As I asked before, how much of this represents the “real” you and how much is simply a need to create a division between yourself and other people?