"Colors"
Something that many of us take for granted.

We tend to think that colors are just there for aesthetics and serve no other purpose. But is that really there it is to life? Purpose?

If we lived by this principle, we would value practicality over everything, a world without creativity, a world without colors, a world without beauty.

Imagine a world without colors.

Imagine a sunset not emitting radiant, blinding lights on the beach.
Imagine the crystal blue waters in our oceans being replaced with darkness.
Imagine a life without life.

Ever since I was a child, I had encountered lots of problems when it came to colors.

From elementary school, I would always ask my parents to only buy crayons that had labels on them to never confuse one color with another.

One day, I left my crayons at home and was forced to borrow crayons from my classmates. His type of crayons were the ones that did not have labels on them, and so I was confused. I was also afraid to ask for my classmates’ help as I was terrified of how they would react if they knew I could not distinguish colors.

The day came when we presented our drawings to the class, and my classmates laughed at me when I showed them a sketch of the earth with green-colored ground and green-colored trees. I had mistaken green for brown. I was so embarrassed.

And so, this started my struggle with colors.

I was constantly ridiculed when I told people that I was colorblind. They would always ask me questions regarding my colorblindness and ask if I only saw the world in black and white.

Just a disclaimer, colorblindness does not mean that I can only see black and white (although there is a kind like that) but, my type is where I could see colors, just not exactly how they are presented to the average person.

The thing that annoys me is when people point at a particular object, ask me what color it is, and laugh when I get it wrong.

I remember back in high school when a classmate of mine pointed at a gray cat ( as they revealed it to me later on), they asked me what color it was to me and I answered genuinely “green,” and they laughed and ridiculed me in front of many people.

Up until now, my colorblindness has affected me and my college course.

I’ve always wanted to take up a course on Aeronautical Engineering, but they required an Ishihara Test (to test for colorblindness), and given that I absolutely failed that test, I had to say goodbye to my aeronautical engineering dreams.

I’ve gotten used to people laughing at me, and so I swore to never mention it to anybody again.

Then I met my girlfriend.

She asked me something about colors and asked me what my favorite shade of a specific object she pointed at was, I completely got it wrong, and she knew about it but didn’t humiliate me. So I just told her that I was colorblind, but she did not have the same reactions as others.

She was amazed that she met a colorblind person for the first time, and instead of ridiculing me whenever I got a color wrong, she would teach me and try to help me distinguish similar colors from others. Like blue from purple, violet, indigo, and yellow from orange, and yellow-orange.

Right then and there, although I was a stranger to colors, her mere presence brought color to my life.

And I actually made her a poem regarding her contribution to my colorblindness.

Hope you like it!

Blind

Gray and lifeless,
I was once a stranger to the light.
Blind to colors,
Blind to life.

Company and happiness were scarce,
I just wanted to disappear and hide.
Thousands of thoughts in my mind,
Telling me to end it all and die.

Impatiently searching and trying,
Looking for someone to help me get back up
Years of suffering shrunk as you came.

No longer was I a stranger to the light.
No longer a stranger to colors,
No longer blind.

I hope you enjoyed reading my post, and I wish you all a great week!