Colored Bridges

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Color elicits an array of emotions. My favorite color is sky blue. It is not alarming nor bland. It is welcoming and oddly infinite. When I meet someone wearing sky blue--I am inclined to like them.

What about white? A color? The absence of? Herman Melville writes "whiteness refinement's enhances beauty." He illustrates white has been made significance of gladness. The Romans marked a white stone as a sign of a joyful day. He continues, "this same hue is made the emblem of many touching, noble things--the innocence of brides, the benignity of age;...whiteness typifies the majesty of Justice in the ermine of the Judge...milk-white steeds...symbol of the divine spotlessness and power...snow-white bull...sacred White Dog." Whiteness is a symbol of cleanliness and purity. It is also refreshing. A youthful air permeates when a laundry load of "whites" comes out of the dryer. Whiteness requires a degree of comfort which I will explain after eluding to Melville's opinion of whiteness.

"...With whatever is sweet, and honorable, and sublime, there lurks an elusive something in the innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than that redness which affrights blood." Melville mentions objects of this innermost hue eliciting such emotion:
White bear of the poles
White shark of the tropics
White steed of the Praries
White Albatross
Albino man
Gauntleted ghost of the Southern Seas
White equally
New-fallen snow
White Friar
White nun
White Tower of London
White Mountains of new Hampshire
White Sea
"The tall pale man"
Shrouded phantom of the whitened waters
Snow-howdahed
White depths of the milky way
White elephant
Albino Whale

I believe one has to be able to handle the "whiteness" of this world. Too many of us are hard on ourselves to a default. Many people, situations, thoughts and actions can be frightening. Melville compares these white doings to terror, horror, discomfort and darkness.

I believe life is full of light and white things are good. The most important aspect of whiteness is a clear conscience. A white conscience will permeate when an individual is "white" to oneself, their family, their fellow-men and most importantly to God. Striving for whiteness in life is a worthy endeavor. Life will never be perpetually white. Our conscience will remind us of what we need to do to improve our life. A wise man once said, "a fragile conscience is a sign of a healthy spirit." As we strive to be squared away with ourselves, our family, our fellowmen and God we are more happy and content with simple nuggets of happiness life has to offer.

"Or is it, that as in essence whiteness is not so much a color as true visible absence of color, and at the same time the concrete of all colors."

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