Who are the "normal" people? Have you ever met someone who doesn't have special needs? Normal is a setting on the dryer.
We're obsessed with labels.
Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, Christian, atheist-it seems that we're intent on placing ourselves in neat little boxes and pretending that everyone in a particular box is identical.
Labels obscure individuals.
No shades or variations-you're either red or blue, no room for violet or pink.
So we move from red state to blue as though we're changing planets and are about to encounter some new and bizarre life form.
You can almost hear the internal conversation: "Oh, you're one of them.
" And we slap that label across their foreheads, and that becomes our perception.
Then we're free to dismiss or demonize the label while we ignore the real person behind our arbitrary, standardized label.
I encounter labels a lot as a wheelchair user.
Handicapped, disabled, physically challenged-what should people call me? Personally, I prefer "Rich.
" I'm not a wheelchair.
My friend with MS isn't a disease.
My student with a sight impairment isn't a white cane.
We're all people with strengths and weaknesses, just like every other person.
My current favorite is "special needs.
" Does that imply that most folks aren't special, or that they don't have needs, or that their needs aren't special? Why must we segregate individuals by labeling them as "special," pretending that the rest of us are normal? What's "normal?" When my car operates normally, that means it's performing as the designer intended.
In that context, who's normal? Which of us is operating as God intended when He designed us? I can think of only one person who ever lives according to the intent of the designer.
Apparently, Jesus was the only normal person who ever lived.
The rest of us are flawed, broken, not operating according to design specifications.
My physical impairment is visible, and I deal with it daily.
But what about my spiritual impairments-do I confront them as readily? Am I guilty of labeling others with "spiritual special needs" as though I'm somehow in a better category of sinner? Do I pretend that my flaws are "normal?" God doesn't see me as a category.
Each of us is a unique, precious individual in His eyes.
Each of us falls short of the glory for which He designed us.
And each of us is so special that He sent His son to bring us back to full operating capacity.
What labels cause you to lose sight of individuals?
We're obsessed with labels.
Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, Christian, atheist-it seems that we're intent on placing ourselves in neat little boxes and pretending that everyone in a particular box is identical.
Labels obscure individuals.
No shades or variations-you're either red or blue, no room for violet or pink.
So we move from red state to blue as though we're changing planets and are about to encounter some new and bizarre life form.
You can almost hear the internal conversation: "Oh, you're one of them.
" And we slap that label across their foreheads, and that becomes our perception.
Then we're free to dismiss or demonize the label while we ignore the real person behind our arbitrary, standardized label.
I encounter labels a lot as a wheelchair user.
Handicapped, disabled, physically challenged-what should people call me? Personally, I prefer "Rich.
" I'm not a wheelchair.
My friend with MS isn't a disease.
My student with a sight impairment isn't a white cane.
We're all people with strengths and weaknesses, just like every other person.
My current favorite is "special needs.
" Does that imply that most folks aren't special, or that they don't have needs, or that their needs aren't special? Why must we segregate individuals by labeling them as "special," pretending that the rest of us are normal? What's "normal?" When my car operates normally, that means it's performing as the designer intended.
In that context, who's normal? Which of us is operating as God intended when He designed us? I can think of only one person who ever lives according to the intent of the designer.
Apparently, Jesus was the only normal person who ever lived.
The rest of us are flawed, broken, not operating according to design specifications.
My physical impairment is visible, and I deal with it daily.
But what about my spiritual impairments-do I confront them as readily? Am I guilty of labeling others with "spiritual special needs" as though I'm somehow in a better category of sinner? Do I pretend that my flaws are "normal?" God doesn't see me as a category.
Each of us is a unique, precious individual in His eyes.
Each of us falls short of the glory for which He designed us.
And each of us is so special that He sent His son to bring us back to full operating capacity.
What labels cause you to lose sight of individuals?
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