Shorty

We have a new member in the family. She is not young, but still much younger than Ate Vi, whom she is charged to help with the household chores I am too busy (or too lazy?) to do.

Her name is Pandak (Shorty). It is not her real name, of course; but when she was a little girl, in grade school, she was the shortest in class. So everyone started calling her Pandak, and the name stuck.

The funny thing is, Pandak is much taller than the women in our home, namely Ate Vi and me.

Labels. We live in a world preoccupied with people labels. Since time immemorial, man has separated people into categories. We have labels for all types of behavior, labels for all sorts of personalities, labels for all sorts of people.

Is it the way we're wired? Is it the way we make sense of things?

People tend to judge other people—consciously or unconsciously. Although this judgment is unfair, it is a reality which is constantly present on earth. We have impressions about people we see for the first time, predict the way they are, and label them—weird, nerd, goth, racist, bigot, pandak—the list is endless.

Sociologists say that labeling someone may actually change his behavior, adapting to the label. Fortunately for Pandak, her genes didn't allow her childhood name to stunt her.

Labeling people is not necessarily a bad thing. Not all of it dehumanizes. I once met someone whom everyone called Einstein because he could answer every question. Now a successful scientist, he has lived up to that label.

We are encouraged to label anyone, for as long as the label is positive and encourages him to live up to it. The Bible labeled Jesus many names—Savior, Emmanuel, Salt, Light, Lamb, Prince of Peace, Bread of Life, Truth, etc.

Think of all the greatest words ever invented. Those are labels for Christ.

The Scriptures likewise exhort Christians the world over to take the straight path of Jesus and so, eventually, they will have all the positive labels they could ever wish for, though undeserved, through grace.