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The Beauty of Grey

My favorite color is grey.  I love that it is black and white all in one.  Black is the absence of color and white is all the colors so grey sits comfortably in the middle of the extremes.  I love that grey matches with all the other colors.  Grey really isn't trying to stand out, it is just hanging out in the background.    One of my favorite songs is from the band Live and it is called The Beauty of Grey.  A line from the song says "It is not a black and white world, to be alive I say the colors must be swirled, and I believe that maybe today, we will all get to appreciate, the beauty of grey."  These are rich and meaningful lyrics and I would like to break them down a bit.

It is not a black and white world.  To me this says that life isn't always cut and dry or straight forward.  There is ambiguity in the world, ideas and people that we haven't experienced yet.  Ambiguity is a good thing because it means that you don't have everything figured out, you have yet to declare your position so you are still seeking out the truth.  This is a wonderful place to be because you stay in a constant state of consideration and listen to all points of view.  If you are still seeking out truth on a subject, on all subjects, you go through life with open eyes and an open mind.  If you realize that you don't have everything figured out you remain humble and agreeable.

To be alive I say the colors must be swirled.  To me this essentially says to break down the lines of division.  Orange is the combination of yellow and red.  But my orange might have more yellow than your orange.  Both are in the category of orange but there are many hues of this color.  And isn't this the true essence of life?  Our minds like to compartmentalize to make things easier for us but we are constantly reminded that these lines we draw are somewhat arbitrary.  Draw your lines in the sand and do not form them in concrete because they will change as you change.  The same can be said for all the over 7 billion people in the world.  We like to think that people who look the same and are from the same part of the world are the same but this is just laziness on our behalf.  Tear down your stereotypes and realize that all people are a beautiful blend of unique experiences and can't be figured out so quickly.

And I believe that maybe today we will all get to appreciate the beauty of grey.  There is so much beauty in ambiguity, in the unknown, in the unfamiliar, in all the different people and ways of life.  As you become like grey and become a swirl of all the colors and no color at all, you have a little bit of everything in you so you can adapt to almost anything that life throws at you.  That is what diversity is really about, adaptability.  Remove yourself from the comfortable echo chamber you grew up in and step into the world of diversity, change, and ambiguity.  Find connection points with everyone around you, after all we are all human and really quite rare from a universal perspective.  Be like grey because there is so much beauty in grey!

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