Modern historians prefer “Middle Ages” because “Dark Ages” simplifies a negative time too much. Still, the adjective dark points to something real: a period when tolerance narrowed and knowledge was lost. Language should evolve—but we shouldn’t lose the philosophical insight older labels were trying to express. The same is true in daily life. Categories help us think quickly, but people are always more complex than the labels we give them. Walk a friendlier journey with others by using labels as careful tools, not identities.