CDs

I was an early adopter of digital music. I initially kept everything in the same folder until playing music became too weird. The tracks would vary from classical music to drumline to rap. Since I like to match my music to my mood or activity, I sorted the files by genre. Over time, this didn’t work either. I had to divvy up into subgenre. So rock became classic rock, alternative, hard rock, etc. Pearl Jam - alternative or grunge? Keep bands together or split albums? The Beatles had Get Back in Classic Rock and Yellow Submarine in Soundtracks. Eventually I landed on a folder for each letter of the alphabet, then a folder for the artist, then grouped by album. This was filled with issues, too. The Beatles or Beatles, The? Does 311 go in a # folder or T? If I group by artist, where do soundtracks fit? Do I put Chopin under C or with Classical or grouped by the Symphony actually playing that piece?

Every approach seemed simple at first, but when it came to each individual decision, the labels were too limiting. As complicated as it is for music, imagine trying to bucket or sort individuals. We label and categorize people all of the time. Age may be toddler, tween, teen, elderly. Or race, religion, mental capacity, physical or mental condition. Emotional tendency - temperamental, nice, ornery. Profession, or not, or housing, wealth, status or office.

All these might describe some parts or pieces of individuals, but each category also picks up attributes that may not correspond to every member. These extra attributes may be based on our own experience or we might learn them from media, art, and others.  If BMW drivers are selfish and he drives a BMW, then this person I’ve never met must be selfish. This is so deeply ingrained that we often don’t realize it is happening. Categorizing people at the mall or on the road is easy. When we start to ask what category our friends and family might fit it, it becomes far more complicated.

Curiosity is a powerful tool to waking up from this ingrained and automatic labeling. Curiosity allows us to seek out commonalities and differences. Curiosity allows us to understand and appreciate an individual for who they are.

Am I constraining myself by trying to fit into a certain category? Do I limit others or my understanding of them because of the label I’ve assigned them? Can I see myself and others for who we are and not what I think we should be?

Be curious, be kind, be whole, do good things.