Bird Droppings November 17, 2010
Being color blind in a world that only sees black and white

It has been nearly forty years actually more since I found out I was color blind. I had been in college at West Chester State College for my freshmen year. I found driving to the New Jersey beaches and missing classes much more entertaining than sitting in a class room listening to a chemistry professor you could not understand go through transparency film like it was on fire. However on the downside my grades showed it as I received my letter not permitting me to return and within another day or two a draft notice since my student’s deferment was now voided. I was in the first round of lottery numbers in the tail end of the draft and my birthday was number three and all through about one hundred and fifty were drafted.
I was at the time playing ice hockey for West Chester State and somehow my grades and letter of get of school now never made it to the Hockey team and I was still playing. I had severely injured my right shoulder and had been in the hospital for surgery just prior to my draft physical. So in effect I still had stitches in my shoulder. I could not raise my right arm and as I made my way through the lines I was made to repeat the color blind test. The Issachar Color Blind Tests are a series of round almost cameo looking patterns with numbers within the patterns. I could only read one or two of the numbers. By the end of the four or five hours I had several check marks against me. No epileptics, no color blind and no fellows who can not raise their right hand to salute, the sergeant said son you failed and I smiled and he yelled at me “why are you smiling boy”.
So here I was color blind and never knew it and what trade do I go into after a few years of teaching in the early seventies but graphic arts. Every day I made choices and decisions on color and designs that involved color. Never seemed to bother me as I went through life. However as I matured and continued in life I began to see how limited so many people were in how they looked at life.

“Life is like a box of crayons. Most people are the 8-color boxes, but what you’re really looking for are the 64-color boxes with the sharpeners on the back. I fancy myself to be a 64-color box, though I’ve got a few missing. It’s ok though, because I’ve got some more vibrant colors like periwinkle at my disposal. I have a bit of a problem though in that I can only meet the 8-color boxes. Does anyone else have that problem? I mean there are so many different colors of life, of feeling, of articulation.. so when I meet someone who’s an 8-color type.. I’m like, hey girl, magenta! and she’s like, oh, you mean purple! and she goes off on her purple thing, and I’m like, no – I want magenta!” John Mayer

I found this quote on a face-book page and really liked it. Few people outside graphic arts and the art world know what color magenta is but magenta is one of the four colors along with yellow, cyan, and black that make up the colors used in printing of four color process and color copying.

We live in a world of eight color crayon boxes where most people only see what they want to see and only in a few shades and on the most part in black and white. As a teacher I have found there are more than sixty four colors and many more shades in between if we look. It has been many years since I first heard Harry Chapin in the Fox Theatre on Peachtree Street. A song that has stuck with me is one about a little boy who sees the world as a rainbow of color. I have included all the words to this very poignant song and if you ever get a chance find a tape or CD and listen to the Great Harry Chapin singing the tune.

Flowers are Red
by Harry Chapin

The little boy went first day of school
He got some crayons and started to draw
He put colors all over the paper
For colors was what he saw
And the teacher said.. What you doin’ young man
I’m paintin’ flowers he said
She said… It’s not the time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There’s a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done
You’ve got to show concern for everyone else
For you’re not the only one

And she said…
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There’s no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen

But the little boy said…
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one

Well the teacher said.. You’re sassy
There’s ways that things should be
And you’ll paint flowers the way they are
So repeat after me…..

And she said…
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There’s no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen

But the little boy said…
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one

The teacher put him in a corner
She said.. It’s for your own good..
And you won’t come out ’til you get it right
And are responding like you should
Well finally he got lonely
Frightened thoughts filled his head
And he went up to the teacher
And this is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There’s no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen

Time went by like it always does
And they moved to another town
And the little boy went to another school
And this is what he found
The teacher there was smilin’
She said…Painting should be fun
And there are so many colors in a flower
So let’s use every one

But that little boy painted flowers
In neat rows of green and red
And when the teacher asked him why
This is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There’s no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen.

It has been a few years back when a group of four year olds from our ECE program came into my room to see the snakes and lizards and other creatures that habitat there. As little children do they asked question after question until one little boy blurts out where do snakes go to the bathroom and one of the high school students who was working with the little ones says that’s stupid don’t ask that. I immediately started first of all it is a great question and we discussed where snakes go to the bathroom. After the group left I talked to the high school student and explained never stop the questioning this is why when kids today get to high school they have been taught not to think or question coming up through the grades. It is through questions we learn.

“A camera is not a creative thing. Cameras themselves don’t produce works of art any more than a paintbrush produces a work of art. They have to be in the hands of people who know what they’re doing with them. Therefore all the tools that are available are wonderful, but you still need to have the confidence to use them and to know how to use them, what the processes are that are involved. That’s where I think there is often a crisis. There are too few opportunities I believe now for people to develop the necessary skills to make these tools really helpful and useful. There are plenty of ways of using them which are more or less trivial, which pass the time and it would have passed anyway.” Sir Kenneth Robinson

I was introduced to Sir Kenneth Robinson by a good friend. He is known word wide for his work on creativity and imagination in education. As I have been researching for my dissertation I have read and found Elliot Eisner who is known for his work on the aesthetic applications within education and others all who see our educational system stripping away imagination and critical thinking for common goals such as standardized test scores. Robinson uses the illustration of the rise in testing and ADHD diagnosis in the US. An interesting thought as I go deeper into my own research.
I went out last night just before the rain returned. The sky was finishing a gorgeous sunset and all about me as I sat in my quiet spot listening to the sounds of crickets and tree frogs trying to get a few chords in before the chill sets in again. I drove to Pizza Hut listening to old Bob Dylan songs and thinking about the John Mayer quote. It is not just about artists it is about people and how they see the world about them. I worry as I watch politicians say one thing do another and then tomorrow do something different all in their own interest. So many of those about as I discussed with someone the other day are acting being who they need to be to get what they want. A sad world as we rip the soul from children telling them to not ask questions and limiting what they can see and or hear. So for another day please keep all in harms way on your mind and in your hearts.
namaste
bird