We've got a label for that

Yesterday in the car, Sophia and I were talking - as usual. At one point, the term "Christian" came up. She had asked what kind of school I had gone to when I was little. She was intrigued. Of course I was required to define and offer examples of the use of this word. That is protocol when introducing a new word to Sophia - or any child, I would imagine. It's good for my vocabulary because I don't use words I can't define. Anyhow, I defined "Christian" as a word that we use to describe a person who wants to be like Jesus. "Like me and you!" she responded. Yep. Just like that. She was quiet for a while, and then said, "Why do we have a word for that?" Seriously. That's what she said. I was stumped. For one, she has never asked that question before. For another thing, I didn't know what to tell her. The simple answer is "So we can label ourselves and others."

Now, I'm not saying that we should take this or similar words out of our lexicon. I'm simply suggesting that maybe we use too many labels. It's possible that labels allow us to assume too much about each other. Or not. I don't know. I'm just saying. It was a great question, and I wanted to throw it out there.