Actually, I do want to talk about this more because I think about what it must be like to live like Jim all the time.
You see the world in full colour. It's so bright, so saturated, that sometimes it hurts. There are so many colours and you can see all of them all the time. You presume for a while this must be what it's like for everyone, but it becomes apparent to you pretty soon that, no, other people do not see colour. They see the world in black and white.
How do you explain red to a person who can't see it? How do you explain its vibrancy, how it changes in different lights, how it colours blood? If you try, sometimes they look at you like you're brilliant, sometimes they look at you like you're insane. It makes them uncomfortable. So you don't explain, because no one understands what it's like seeing the world like you do. It's lonely, being the only one.
But you see everything, and that means you can do anything. Things that elude other people in greyscale are obvious to you in colour. You see all the different shades, all the different avenues of possibility. It's so easy for you, nothing is ever really a challenge; answers aren't hidden behind black and white. It's like breathing, and breathing is boring. Most days, you wonder what the point is.
Then one day you find someone who can see what you’re doing, and you think maybe he can see colour, too. Maybe he understands how you see the world. Isn’t that a relief, after so long of nothing but people talking about grey? So, you play a game with him, and now maybe it won’t be so boring, because you’re not the only one anymore.
But then it happens again. Everything you plan for him goes exactly as you thought, and it’s easy, and it’s boring. And you think maybe he can’t see colour like you can. Maybe he only sees half the spectrum. Maybe it’s not so bright for him. How disappointing. You thought someone really did understand. Now everyone else is black and white again.
Except then he turns it back on you. And you think in that moment he really can see all the colours. He does understand. He thinks he wins.
The colour is so bright. It hurts your eyes. You’re so tired.
And isn’t red a lovely colour?
ellievsbear
