Post by clansmanchris on Mar 29, 2014 10:57:51 GMT -5
Today, as one thinks about colour and its significance – after a rather manic morning rushing around trying to do 101 things at once – I feel not unlike a domiciliary carer driving from one client to another, with each task (or client) demanding my time and attention to meet its needs; leaving me feeling at times overwhelmed by the demands of one against the calls of another, and the pressure of time in which to complete all of the day’s activities.
Continuing with the metaphor of the overworked domiciliary carer in a mad rush to get from A to B, I found myself being ordered to stop at a set of traffic lights. As I glanced at the lights, anxiously waiting for them to change, one was reminded of just how emblematical they are of life and life’s experiences as a whole: Red symbolising when we momentarily pause to think where we are going next; Amber as we prepare to act, say or do a certain thing; and Green when we are often too busy thinking, saying or doing something, to have due and lasting regard for the next demand on our time or a future occasion when we will have time to reflect on the journey we have made thus far, and the voyage upon which we have still to embark.
And yet, as the traffic light shines Green, at times I feel that I although I am behind the wheel with my foot pressed firmly on the accelerator, I feel the engine of the car – my inner-spirit – inside stalling, as others all around me hoot at me and tell me to “get going” or “keep moving.” I no longer focus my attention on the traffic lights ahead of me but the rainbow in the sky above.
In a flash I am reminded of the double-meaning – or, as the medical professionals would no doubt call it, the dual-diagnosis – of the rainbow. In Biblical terms, it is a symbol that God will not flood the world again as the sun meets with, and overcomes, the rain, just as Jesus (the Son of God) met and overcame death on Calvary’s Cross. In secular terms, the rainbow is the emblem of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Community to which I, as a gay man, belong.
I glance at the colours of the arc in the sky as each too has a meaning. Red – an indicator of danger and a command to stop. Orange – perhaps an indicator that, to quote the advertisement, “the future is bright, the future is Orange”, if one does indeed move on and not allow oneself to stagnate or stand still. Yellow – an indicator of the light and warmth of the mid-day sun. Green – a sign of life we all enjoy here on earth from both the bright yellow sun which precedes it and the rain which follows it, as the Blue which follows the Green reminds one of rain and also of the sea; in that too, one sees life as a mix of light days and dark nights, highs and lows, times when we feel our feet are firmly on the ground and other times when we feel our heads are either in the clouds or when our spirits are lost in the depths of the deepest of seas. Beyond Blue, one sees Indigo, a mix of both Blue and Purple, before the final colour Violet, a truly royal colour and one befitting an old queen like me, as well as the name given to a flower that perpetually shrinks just as so often we either shrink ourselves, or allow others to shrink us, in the presence of those whom we perceive to be greater than us.
I glance back at the traffic lights, inwardly cursing the significance of colour and wishing that life could be as simple as Black and White. As I do, I spot a man across the road I haven’t seen for some-time walking his dog. I call after him to enquire about his and his elderly father’s health, only to be told that his father died two years ago, which reminds me of how, although we are born as pure white babes, unblemished from any sins of our own making, we die darkened by our own mortal transgressions. Seeing things in such stark terms often leads one to dismiss the Grey – some would say the “Fifty Shades of Grey” – between the Black and the White, which distinguishes life from death, and all life’s experiences in-between the two which others define as separating living from existing; and one does not simply mean appreciating the beauty (or otherwise) of an adult schoolboy in grey school shorts with grey knee-socks! Now, to find time to write about – and share – those really would be both challenging and as scary as a pedestrian crossing a road when the traffic lights are still showing red to a very bad driver such as me!
With Christian love to all
Christopher, xxxx.
Continuing with the metaphor of the overworked domiciliary carer in a mad rush to get from A to B, I found myself being ordered to stop at a set of traffic lights. As I glanced at the lights, anxiously waiting for them to change, one was reminded of just how emblematical they are of life and life’s experiences as a whole: Red symbolising when we momentarily pause to think where we are going next; Amber as we prepare to act, say or do a certain thing; and Green when we are often too busy thinking, saying or doing something, to have due and lasting regard for the next demand on our time or a future occasion when we will have time to reflect on the journey we have made thus far, and the voyage upon which we have still to embark.
And yet, as the traffic light shines Green, at times I feel that I although I am behind the wheel with my foot pressed firmly on the accelerator, I feel the engine of the car – my inner-spirit – inside stalling, as others all around me hoot at me and tell me to “get going” or “keep moving.” I no longer focus my attention on the traffic lights ahead of me but the rainbow in the sky above.
In a flash I am reminded of the double-meaning – or, as the medical professionals would no doubt call it, the dual-diagnosis – of the rainbow. In Biblical terms, it is a symbol that God will not flood the world again as the sun meets with, and overcomes, the rain, just as Jesus (the Son of God) met and overcame death on Calvary’s Cross. In secular terms, the rainbow is the emblem of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Community to which I, as a gay man, belong.
I glance at the colours of the arc in the sky as each too has a meaning. Red – an indicator of danger and a command to stop. Orange – perhaps an indicator that, to quote the advertisement, “the future is bright, the future is Orange”, if one does indeed move on and not allow oneself to stagnate or stand still. Yellow – an indicator of the light and warmth of the mid-day sun. Green – a sign of life we all enjoy here on earth from both the bright yellow sun which precedes it and the rain which follows it, as the Blue which follows the Green reminds one of rain and also of the sea; in that too, one sees life as a mix of light days and dark nights, highs and lows, times when we feel our feet are firmly on the ground and other times when we feel our heads are either in the clouds or when our spirits are lost in the depths of the deepest of seas. Beyond Blue, one sees Indigo, a mix of both Blue and Purple, before the final colour Violet, a truly royal colour and one befitting an old queen like me, as well as the name given to a flower that perpetually shrinks just as so often we either shrink ourselves, or allow others to shrink us, in the presence of those whom we perceive to be greater than us.
I glance back at the traffic lights, inwardly cursing the significance of colour and wishing that life could be as simple as Black and White. As I do, I spot a man across the road I haven’t seen for some-time walking his dog. I call after him to enquire about his and his elderly father’s health, only to be told that his father died two years ago, which reminds me of how, although we are born as pure white babes, unblemished from any sins of our own making, we die darkened by our own mortal transgressions. Seeing things in such stark terms often leads one to dismiss the Grey – some would say the “Fifty Shades of Grey” – between the Black and the White, which distinguishes life from death, and all life’s experiences in-between the two which others define as separating living from existing; and one does not simply mean appreciating the beauty (or otherwise) of an adult schoolboy in grey school shorts with grey knee-socks! Now, to find time to write about – and share – those really would be both challenging and as scary as a pedestrian crossing a road when the traffic lights are still showing red to a very bad driver such as me!
With Christian love to all
Christopher, xxxx.