Why is it so important for some people to label themselves? I went to this financial seminar at work yesterday and I was excited to learn some specific financial strategies, like how to make a good budget, best practices with saving money, or how to invest, but it was all just abstract, like how money is a social construct and it only has value because we believe it has value, and so on. I just wanted to learn something that was actually useful.
Anyway, there was this lady who kept raising her hand and talking. I don’t even remember the context in which she made this comment, because it was all so random. The first comment she made was, “I’m a systems thinker, ok…” and she kept using that term, “systems thinker.” She continued, “Being a systems thinker, I approached this problem differently than my brother, who is an attorney who makes three times more than me.” And she said that she is a “strategic planner.”
Then a little while later, the speaker was making some comments on the housing crisis and her opinion that our homes losing value isn’t really as big of a deal as we think, and the same woman raised her hand and said, “Ok, I’m a land use planner, and as a land use planner, I just have to challenge you on this point because location has a lot to do with this, and land use planners will tell you that….”
And then, we were discussing this question, why are we more likely to save $20 by mowing our own lawn than to earn $20 by mowing a neighbor’s lawn? And the same woman raised her hand and said that mowing lawn is for 14-year-old boys, and why would she, as a 40-year-old, be mowing a neighbor’s lawn…she’d be infringing on the 14-year-old’s market…and the speaker replied that this woman was trying to sound altruistic but really she just demonstrated that this isn’t just about money it’s also about prestige and the perception of who should be doing what kind of work… and that shut this woman up for a few moments, until she took the microphone back to let everyone know that although she doesn’t mow lawn, she does tap trees for maple syrup.
So, in a nutshell: Yeah, I'm land use planner, and a systems thinker, and a strategic planner, and I wouldn't be caught dead mowing the lawn because it's so beneath me, but in case that sounded snotty, just so you know, I tap trees.
As someone who goes to great lengths to avoid saying anything in front of large groups of people, or being the center of attention in any way, I can’t understand the compulsion some people have to put themselves into categories and let everyone else know what those categories are. Situations like these remind me why I often say nothing: I don’t want to risk sounding as narcissistic as others often do. It’s a balance…sometimes we should take more risks and show the world our inner light, and sometimes we just need to be quiet or think more before we speak. Or maybe now I’m the one who is labeling?
