This is not the post that I intended to write today - in fact it could not be more the opposite, but life is life and circumstances define where we are at both emotionally and mentally. So I want to spend a few minutes with you discussing labels.

Labels can some times be adjectives and sometimes they can be nouns. So, let's look at a classic example to illustrate the point I am making.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, with occasional flare ups to this day, there was a major problem in English football, namely football hooliganism. Opposing fans would simply batter each other and they often went to matches not to enjoy the football and support their teams, but for the fight.

Football matches became battlegrounds that were policed aggressively and large fences were erected to both keep the fans segregated and stop them from getting at each other on the pitch.

Often described as "animals" - and this is the point - they would in turn behave like "animals". Such a draconian approach was a contributory factor in the infamous Hillsborough disaster which saw 96 fans die at a cup match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. The flow of fans was poorly managed and then when the central lower segment of the Leppings Lane stand became overcrowded people tried to break down the fences and get over them.

What was in fact desperate people fight for their lives was initially interpreted as an act of hooliganism. There was no quick release on the fences - and even if there was it was too late by then.

Desperate people caged like "animals" tragically died and that's the bottom line.

On a more personal level we see this with name-calling or labelling. My brother never thought he would add up to anything because the school system put him in the "stupid group". In recent years I actually asked him why he never had homework. Our parents used to diligently ask whether we had any homework to do and I often did, but he never did. I always thought that he did, but couldn't be bothered to do it. I found out much later, that in fact nobody in his group got homework because they were considered "too stupid" to do it.

That is harsh, that is brutal and frankly unfair.

With the help of his wife in particular my brother has managed to outgrow this stigma and I rather suspect that aside from the labelling one of the issues he struggled with was dyslexia - but back then nobody gave a s**t about it. So it becomes circular. He struggled, probably primarily because of the dyslexia, and he was labelled, given up on and abandoned.

Why am I writing this today?

As I said life is life and there is a tendency to label, we might think we are categorising, but all too often we are doing harm. I know sometimes people who are affected are called snowflakes - which is label in itself - but if something is repeated often enough then it has a tendency to stick and reap a destructive influence.

I am too, conscious of this in my own life and however much we try to reject such negative labelling, it becomes a persistently dripping tap - and guess what if left unchecked the bath finally fills up.

So as you go about your daily lives, think before you speak, build others up, encourage and don't tear down. Kindness costs nothing, but brutal words only harm.

I am not saying we should all be fairies - sometimes hard and direct words are necessary - but they should never be negative labels.

As always stay safe and well my friends.