Life's Labels

Many years ago, I remember reading a book that included a story of a couple schoolmates who were real pranksters all through childhood. It seemed no matter where they were and who they were with, they would somehow get into trouble playing a prank on someone.

One day while out and about during Summer break, the boys happened to be in a small, locally owned department in the little town they lived in. As they walked through the aisles of the store, they noticed the price tags either hanging from or stuck on all the items for purchase. Suddenly, one of them wondered how funny it would be and what confusion it would create if all the price tags were switched. What a laugh they would have to see someone check out the price of a television to see the price was only $5.00 or to grab a ballpoint pen with a price of $275.00.

Since it was late in the afternoon and the manager of the store would soon close for the evening, the boys began swapping price tags for as many of the items as they could while the store manager was distracted tidying up things, turning off lights, locking doors, etc. The boys, thought they would be sure and be back in the morning when the store opened again in order to see all the havoc their prank had wreaked.

Sure enough, the place went crazy as the panicked store manager knew something was horribly wrong. All the price tags had been switched!

Of course, the mayhem was created because people assumed a certain value on items simply because of the price tag or label attached to them.

Think for a minute about the labels we attached to things or even other people in our lives. For that matter, it is probably something we all do to people we don't even know. "Boy! That lady was rude." "Did you see how big that person was?" "Can you believe the kind of car they drive?"

Labels like FAT, SKINNY, LAZY, UGLY, OBNOXIOUS, IGNORANT and many others can actually stunt growth. Very often, people actually live out the labels they have had hung around their necks or, more accurately, their minds.

At Lighthouse, we have the privilege of teaching some of the most gifted students in the world. We are firm believers that every child can learn. It just takes finding the right way to do it that makes all the difference in the world.

One of the ways we do it is by switching the labels or price tags others in the past may have tried to hang onto their minds. We know that labels such as unique or intelligent or mighty or kind can be springboards to a student's success.