Shades of Grey
When asked what my favorite color is I always respond, “Grey.” I personally prefer black, but black is actually the absence of visual color.
Most people learn of black as being every color when they attend art class in elementary school. If you mix all the colors together they become black, and white is considered the absence of color, much like a blank page. In reality, the visual spectrum of light shows you the color reflected back from an object. ”white light” is actually all colors combined and a red object would be an object that reflects red and absorbs all other wavelengths of light. The fact you get hotter in black clothing during the summer is a result of your clothing absorbing all of the light shining down on you and conversely you protect yourself by wearing white clothing to reflect the sunlight away.
Enough with the science lecture. During my car ride to work I thought, as usual, of many random theories and quandaries. Most people would look at good and evil as represented by white and black or day and night. Darkness is considered evil and dangerous and light is considered safe and good. I tend to think in the reverse. Darkness shelters you. Would you hide in a dark place to avoid being seen and harmed or in an open field with light streaming down? Light is revealing and harsh. It is rigid and uncompromising. Darkness is like the color black, it takes everything in without concern or judgment. The good and bad both can find shelter in darkness. The rigidity of being “white,” or a rejective format, is what leads to the holocaust and groups like the KKK or Nazi. Forcing everyone to abide by your stricture of what is “right” lacks a certain element of common goodness and freedom to me.
We can add another layer to this discussion. Light generally is associated with heat, whereas darkness is linked to cold. The feeling of being warm is linked to safety. Cold to thought of as danger. These ideas are induced through life in much the same way as light and dark, or black and white. I would not begin to unravel the whole history of these ideas, but as this is my posting, I will give you my opinion. I would rather be warm than cold, but I would rather freeze to death, than burn alive.
Think about your own experiences. Is it better to choose the “right” path to the exclusion of all else, or would you rather have the choice even if it means being open to harm? Is it more harmful to remove the chaos of genius and let your town, or country, or society decay into stagnation, or would you rather have the good and the bad that comes from variance and change? I personally consider balance to be the key to survival. Balance in all things is needed. This blog may not have given you any business information, but I bet you will look at the phrase, Shades of Grey, in a whole new light.
