We are often quick to judge people, classifying them, giving them labels – good, bad, shady, temperamental, shrewd, easy, difficult, generous, miserly, complicated, aggressive, unreliable. And we live our lives interacting with them based on our inner labelling system. But this system is based on partial facts. We really don’t know or understand the background and upbringing of most people we so easily classify.

When we give labels, in our minds we either build bridges or fences. The categorisation of people in our mind soon gets reflected in society, sometimes leading to unfair consequences as our opinion influences others as well. We need to be measured before being quick to label someone.

We need to be careful not to impose our own value system on someone else. Taking the trouble to understand someone with different values, not only broadens our outlook, it helps us re-examine ourselves with honesty.

Many we interact with may not be as privileged as us. A tough childhood may have hardened them in a manner we find offensive. Making an effort to know the background behind the behaviour makes us compassionate and empathetic.

There may be challenges people are going through that are unknown to us. Identifying the pain behind the actions makes us more sensitive and supportive.

People are fundamentally good. Circumstances play a big role in shaping the way they behave. Our ability to give a context to someone we find offensive and undesirable, makes us realise the fortunate life we may have, in spite of all our challenges.

Every person is deserving of our understanding. Our ability to rise above our own prejudice, bias and systems of labels, not only paves the way for friendships we may never have thought possible, it helps us connect with others, reaching out to them in spite of our differences.

It is easy to jump to conclusions and label people. But we forget life is not always black or white. No one is perfect. We need to only take a deep honest look at ourselves to realise the universal truth of life – We all have shades of grey.