“An optimist is
a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red
stoplight... the truly wise person is colorblind.”
-Albert Schweitzer
-Albert Schweitzer
Though
it seems insignificant, discovering I was colorblind is the main reason my
thought process works the way it does. Imagine
learning as a young child the way you see isn’t like the way the
majority of the world sees. My
grandfather and two of my older brothers are colorblind. My mother grew
concerned when I would consistently ask about the colors of my crayons. She’d try to teach me, but certain colors
looked indistinguishable from others.
At first I felt stupid, like I wasn’t smart enough to learn the difference between blue and purple, but my mother quelled that fear quickly by telling me I was simply different. Soon I began to question what it was to see “correctly.” Philosophical thoughts about the true nature of reality boggled my six-year-old mind. I began to think that maybe everyone saw the world differently and no one knew it, or I was the one who saw what was real and everyone else was wrong. I decided at a young age that reality is subjective, and though all realities may be different they are all equal and real. This realization helped me cope with many difficulties in life, such as my brother being diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder, but that is a story for another time.
Being colorblind
also has many benefits. Sure, it can become a little irritating when people try to test your sight by asking about the color of
every object in the room, but it is a good conversation topic. Also, I have
read that colorblind people can see better in the dark and are able to distinguish
some camouflaged patterns better than someone with normal sight.
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