My Favorite Color

So today in class my mind was wondering, as it often does. I wasn’t thinking of the normal things like what type of alcohol to for the weekend, and I wasn’t checking out the girls in front of me (because I’m in the front row). Anyway, I was thinking about my favorite color, gray. To some, probably most, people, grey represents dull, dreary weather. Green, however represents new life, rebirth, and all kinds of new, exciting things. Red represents passion, anger, and intensity.

At face value, both of these colors seem a lot more interesting than the color grey, which I completely understand. I’ll try to explain just how I came to decide that the bland, dreary gray became my favorite color.

The world is too often viewed in blacks and whites. My first example will be politics. There are republicans, democrats, liberals, and conservatives. Ninety percent of the population of the United States would put themselves into one group or the other. When, if you like to pick at the details, hardly anyone would fall into the category of a pure conservative or liberal, however, God knows how many people vote simply according to political party. I don’t want to go into detail about any politicians in general, and I don’t feel that I have to.

There are millions of other examples of things that on the surface seem two sided. I feel that as a society, we have begun to stop accepting anything but a crystal clear answer. Is this person right or wrong? Innocent or guilty? Smart or dumb? These are a few questions that are asked all the time.

I’m going to look at them one by one. First, right or wrong? Well, there are two obvious answers to that. But then again, didn’t Hitler think he was doing the right thing during World War II? The question of right and wrong generally depends on your personal set of beliefs or beliefs that are generally accepted by society. Next, innocent or guilty? This question is asked in every court case in America. However, isn’t it also possible to be partially guilty of a crime? If you were a witness capable of risking your life to save a person in a robbery, was it your duty to place yourself in harm’s way? Hell, there’s so many unanswered questions within that one that I honestly have no idea. Finally, a widely accepted “gray question.” Smart or stupid? There are many levels of intellect, from those needing round-the-clock care, to those who can perform insanely difficult calculus problems in their heads. Most of us fall in the grey area between these two extremes.

What baffles me, however, is that despite the grey questions that we all know don’t have a right or wrong answer, the world seems so polarized. That is how I see the problem. It is simpler to polarize things. To look at things from one angle or the other. It’s easier to label things than consider all of the possibilities, no matter how unlikely they would seem.

That is not to say that I should be worried about the fact that it is possible for my computer to fuck up somehow and electrocute me. I am just saying that it would be in everyone’s best interest to weigh all of the options when asked a question. Do not think in terms of black and white, right and wrong. Decide for yourself. Go out and experience things, do not simply agree with the more obvious solutions. More than likely, there will be a clear answer. But also when you change how you think, you may create new ways of seeing things. A hundred years ago, I would be crazy to think that there would be a system of machines connecting continents with up to the minute news articles. The people would label me insane and go about their lives. There are few people that can imagine what the future might possibly hold. So I guess the point of this is that no matter how silly you think an idea, remember that it was impossible to set foot on the moon, the world was flat, and the sun revolved around the earth.

Never discourage your own exploration of the gray areas. You’ve probably noticed that I change the spelling of “grey” throughout this article. Is one way right? Honestly, I don’t care. I used it to make a point. Is it important that there are two feasible options of the spelling of “grey?” I bet that the spelling has bugged you at one point in this rather lengthy post, but that is the point. Sometimes the blacks and whites of this world should be questioned, while other times you should look at yourself and ask if its really worth your time to give a fuck.