Labels

Every generation has its foibles and its practices of self-deception, one of which, certainly, is the mislabeling of things⎯calling them something other than what they are, and hoping that somehow they will become what we have called them. In childhood we find this practice delightfully excusable. A small boy wants a horse. He finds a stick, and straddles it, and calls it a horse⎯and to him it becomes a horse. If we were to confine this practice of childhood to things that don’t matter, it might well continue to be a harmless source of pleasant diversion. But we sometimes permit it to carry over where it does matter. In material things our laws have made some progress in prevention. The manufacturer of commodities must indicate to the consumer what his product contains in ways that can be understood. If it is all wool, the label must so say; but if it isn’t, the maker must so inform us. But with intangibles⎯with principles and virtues and character and human qualities⎯the problem becomes more difficult. A man may designate himself as Honest John Smith. The prefix may indicate honesty or it may be a device to cover sharp practice. The conferring of a high sounding title may mean what it implies, and it may not. Words are cheap, and there is no limit to the number or the grandeur of titles that can be coined. Raising a man to office, lavishing him with authority, gilding him with extravagant publicity, attributing to him virtues he doesn’t possess, do not effect miraculous transformations. A leader isn’t a leader merely because someone says he is. He is a leader only if he can lead men and if they will follow him⎯and if they aren’t soon sorry when they do. But to go back to the boy and his stick horse: Someone will say, if the stick will make him as happy as would a horse, why not? That might be all right if we could remain in our childhood and forever indulge in the game of self-delusion, but inevitably there comes a time when life forces its realities upon us, and then comes the realization that labels are fraudulent and titles are empty unless they honestly describe the contents of the package or the qualities of the man. To call a man something he isn’t, doesn’t make him what we call him, whether it be good or bad. Labels are useful if they tell the truth. They are treacherous if they don’t.