Blowin In The Wind

With all the names (at last check, we are up to O) we are using up, everyone wants to know when they will get to be a hurricane.

My friend Amy was upset that she could no longer be a hurricane. It isn't that she was a deadly storm -- hurricanes that are so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity. Amy was last used in 1973 and not put on any of the current naming lists.

My wife is disappointed that her name isn't on the list of storm names put out by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization. She is included on the list of storm names for Australia though, so I told her she was just twisted in a different direction than me.

I'm on the list for 2009.

It is odd how people will gravitate to things that have or resemble their own names. Storms were named in 1953 just for ease of identification, but people have a tendency to name things right away before truly understanding them -- labeling them, if you will.

I was sent a Web site that allows people to answer a series of questions to find out what religion you are practicing ... or ought to be practicing.

It was interesting to get my "religion" since I really don't practice one anyway. Apparently, there is a religion for that too.

It certainly doesn't mean I'm going to run out and join the church for my "selected" religion. Heck, I don't even know if they have one, but I have no interest.

What is interesting is that this is another attempt to label people. Nearly every time you meet a new person, one of the first questions they ask is "where do you work?" as if your job defines you. There is a need to "label" someone so you can fit him or her into your world.

I am as guilty as anyone in doing this, although I try not to. It is a bit more difficult to allow a person's actions to define them, but often it is worth the effort.

People are much more complex than simple labels that can be attached to them. In my world, there are no labels.

Except the one that says, "You are here. Have a nice day."

The need to pigeonhole and categorize everything is basic. Scientists do it every time they discover something new. I guess you can't talk about something (or someone) until you name them. It just doesn't necessarily make it right. "It's three o'clock in the morning, and I'm hungry so let's eat."

Touch 'em all with me, whether you agree with me or criticize me. I like the way you think! Tell me your opinion. Add a comment below and tell me what you think or write to me if you want to join the ever-growing e-mail list to have my column delivered right to your inbox.