Everything has a title or a label. It is how we differentiate Jiff peanut butter from Peter Pan. It is how we identify status. It is how you identify yourself. For example, my name is Alyssa I'm an editor in chief for Odyssey, a student at Heidelberg University, a member of Kappa Psi Omega, and many other things. Those are my titles and my identifiers. Naturally, we make the connection between a logo and a company, a title to a position, a label to a brand, etc. All of this is fine when you're talking about brands of peanut butter or a job title. However, it really bothers me that we have to attach a title to a person or a relationship.

Think about it for a minute, when you're talking to someone you're working towards one thing: the title. You might not even realize you're doing it. You spend time getting to know a person so that you can label them to determine how the rest of that relationship is going to go. If you label them a friend, you're going to have a casual, open relationship. Okay, simple enough. But it gets so much more complicated when you have feelings for that person. Listen, if I know what's up and you know what's up, why do we have to justify what's up by adding a name to the relationship? Because we have it etched into our minds that if there isn't a title or a label to it, then it isn't real. It's disposable unless you stamp someone as your "boyfriend" or "girlfriend". We literally have to attach a label to everyone. Don't get me wrong, these labels aren't bad. They just don't mean anything. For example, if I titled this article "The difference in peanut butter brands" that doesn't change the content of my article. It might confuse people and draw in a different audience, but the content is still the same. The same concept goes for people. If you're with someone, and you're only with that person why do you need to fight for the title? If I call my mom Chrissie instead of calling her mom that doesn't change the relationship that we have. I have seen it first hand, in my own relationships with people, as well as in other peoples' relationships how much damage can be done over a title. It's ignorant. As though the relationship has to be validated because you give it a name. If you're in a relationship and you don't put it on Facebook are you still in that relationship? Yes, because that Facebook status means nothing. Do you see my point?

I understand that I'm ranting about a seemingly unimportant issue, however, I feel that it has just never been put into perspective. The title that you want is really just a place holder for something bigger. Don't get caught up in the name, get caught up in the person.