On Colors

When I was little, my favorite color was pink. For my fourth birthday, my mother asked me what I wanted for my birthday.
I answered, "Pink!"
"Pink? Pink WHAT?" my mother asked.
"Pink, PLEASE!" I answered more carefully.
Trying to get me to understand the metaphysical impossibility of my request, she tried to get my toddler mind to focus on the subject, not the accident.

"Do you want a cake, Maria?"
"Yes, please! Pink Cake!"
"But what would you like for a present, sweetie?"
"PINK!"
"A pink WHAT?"
"Pink present!"
"Pink present?"
"Pink present please," enunciated as clearly as I could.
"I can't just give you "pink", baby. I can give you SOMETHING that is pink."
"Yes, something that is pink."
"But what?"
(I paused and responded carefully) "Something that is pink."

My mother ended up giving me the greatest birthday bash a four year old pinkophile could dream of. She dressed me in a frilly pink dress with a crown made out of rose construction paper. The cake's frosting was pink and the strawberry ice cream was pink. The present was wrapped in pink foil wrapping and pink ribbons and the rosy little baby doll inside wore a pink dress.

It is amazing an peculiar and wonderful how colors can move a person. It is no accident that we tend to describe symbolic meaning to colors. Part of it seems intuitive, even though interpretations are frequently different.

As an adult, my favorite colors in order are blue, white and red.

When I see the color red, it immediately evoke images of fire and blood. Perhaps that is why we associate the color with courage and daring. Because of its vivid richness and eye-catching quality it is also predictable that such a color is associated with passion and romance.

White evokes images of the immacualte. Perfection, cleaness, innocence, purity, honesty, goodness, and honor, are the most common symbols associated with it. That is why in the West, the bridal gown is tradiationally white, to symbolize the innocence of the bride and the purity of her love for the groom.

Why is blue my favorite? I could try to give you reasons. It is calming, soothing and yet exhilarating at the same time. Perhaps that is why the sky is blue. It calms and excites us mysteriously in the same instant. It cools like water and stirs like wind. It is a color in which I can easily percieve the commonly applied symbol of loyalty, truth and wisdom.

The real reason of course, is more emotional and more mysterious. Why do some of us prefer one color over the other? Why is it that some colors seem more beautiful to some and less so to others? That is a mystery no man shall ever discover in this life. It has its origin in the same source that made every human eye and every fingerprint unique. The colors He created for the eyes that He created stir the hearts He has created back toward him by reflecting faint glimmers of His eternal beauty.