Black and White

Can you imagine how boring life would be if everything was black and white....so started the TV commercial. ‘Do I agree with that?’, I wondered as I watched the screen morph from a field of black & white into one of vivid colour.

My mother was an artist. My daughter is an artist. I know that black and white are opposites. White is the sum of all possible colours. Black is the absence or absorption of visible light, and therefore without hue.

Black and white have often been used to describe opposites; particularly light and darkness and good and evil. The white knight usually represents virtue, the black knight something mysterious and sinister. In American westerns , the hero often wears a white hat, the villain a black hat. Studies have shown that something printed in black letters on white has more authority with readers than any other colour of printing. Doesn’t sound boring to me!

The gospel writer Matthew has Jesus say the following words in the verse 37 following the Beatitudes in Chapter 5, “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’” So apparently the early church felt that life should be shaped around polar opposites.

To me, it is the fence-sitters who are boring. Those are the people who won't take sides in case doing so upsets someone or something. They are the one who are afraid to come out as either all white, or all black, but look for a shade of grey as a 'safe' alternative. Too many times, it seems, people are afraid to let their 'yes' be yes, and their 'no' be no. Afraid of what the repercussions might be. Afraid that they might be wrong! But then isn't it through taking that chance that we might be wrong and then, if we are, not being afraid to come out and admit it, that we learn the most?

Learning and growing are the things that make live exciting and worth living. Not doing either is dull and boring, but I must admit 'safe'. So if you want a 'safe' life, I would have to agree with the writer of that television commercial that what you don't want is a life all black and white but rather one of muted colours and shapes of grey.

For the rest of you, grab onto the absolutes. Don't be afraid to say what you think, what you believe. Even when you know that you might very well have to admit that it has changed by tomorrow Live a life of absolutes!

“Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence.” Pope John Paul II

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