One day after a Color Vibe 5K event with Titus 2 women, I was washing out bright yellow, blue, pink, and green colored corn starch from my hair and skin. And, as one would expect, instead of being a swirling rainbow of individual colors (like the flowing distinct colors of a lava lamp) as it washed off, what the water in the bathtub looked like was a yucky color of dull, dark grey as it flowed down the drain. I looked at that and thought, “Wow. I’m glad that the colors didn’t mix like that on my clothing or body and turn that yucky color!” What looked bright, colorful and fun on the surface as long as the integrity of each color remained “pure”, when mixed together with no more individual color integrity and when subjected to the cleansing power of water, all turned very nasty looking, something I wanted to get out of quickly (and did, after three rinses).
Similarly, too, sometime later I observed that the multicolored candy bits decorating the top of a white iced cake were festive and colorful for a couple of days. But as the cake sat, the colors “bled” into one another into a distasteful and unappetizing shade of grey, too, that made it look like it was growing mold. Needless to say, the remaining cake was thrown out. One could no longer tell what was candy and icing and what might be mold.
Hmmmmmm……a metaphor for boundaries? When the color and candy are properly applied and maintained as designed, with conditions that continue the integrity of the individual components, they are beautiful, desirable and fun. When the conditions deteriorate, when integrity of the individual colors is lost, when things are all thrown together and mixed other than remaining as designed and applied, the look of it all deteriorates quickly into a blah-shade of grey and may even disguise an undesirable contamination.
Dictionary: “Grey” – intermediate shade between black and white, that has no hue and reflects and transmits only a little light; dismal or dark, especially from lack of light; gloomy.