Thoughts on color . . .

When you look at this picture, what do you think?

 Perhaps, “What beautiful fall colors!”  Or, “Look at the variety of colors in nature.”  Maybe, “Isn’t it amazing how all those different trees can produce so many different colors living together in the same forest?” 

Now, when you look at this picture, what do you think?

Perhaps, “What a wonderful representation of citizenship!”  Or, “Look at all those beautiful colors!”  Maybe, “Isn’t it amazing how all those different people can live together on the same planet?”

Why can we admire the beauty and differences in the colors of trees but not in people?  We appreciate the variations in each tree.  Even a tree where the leaves all turn red, they are different shades of red all produced by the same tree.  In people, we must admire the variation in each.  How skin, eye, and hair color can be so varied throughout the same family.  How different color combinations can mix together to create something entirely new and beautiful.

Do you remember elementary school when you learned about primary and secondary colors? Red, yellow, and blue are the primary colors and it is mixtures of these colors that make all other colors. And what about black and white? The color white is “due to the reflection of most wavelengths of visible light”.  While black is “Of the very darkest color owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light”.  Yet we must mix the two together in different proportions to make gray. We must add white and black to purple, already a combination of red and blue, to make all the beautiful shades of lilac, violet, mauve, plum and more.

Ignoring color and all its variations is not an option! We must embrace all the colors, of flowers, trees, leaves, paint but most importantly people! All people, in all different colors, contribute to the beauty of this vast world in which we live. We must teach our children, not to be color blind, but to appreciate and understand all the unique colors on the spectrum.

Yellow is my least favorite color, yet yellow and blue combine to make green – my favorite color. So when we teach children about colors they need to know that even if they dislike yellow, it plays an important role in their favorite color of green and so they must appreciate yellows contribution. You don’t have to love yellow, you just have to learn to value its role in the color spectrum.

The same is true of people. You don’t have to love everyone (not everyone is loveable), but you do have to accept their contribution to the world. My response to #blacklivesmatter, is yes, they do, but really #ALLLIVESMATTER - black, white, red, pink, brown, tan, albino and so on.

So take a lesson from this rainbow Yoshi family who live together in peace and harmony under my very roof and are all equally loved.