Thinking In Color .......

This morning I watched an interview with Pharrell Williams in which he spoke at some length about his success in the music industry, as well as his colorful self-expression. When the interviewer tried to categorize him as an ‘out of the box’ thinker and then went on to infer his recent success was due to the fact he had been able to pinpoint that which he did best and then parlay his vision into a phenomenal sensation that took off like wildfire, Pharrell would have no part of it. He said – and I paraphrase – “I never saw the box. That’s where ‘a room without a roof’ comes from. I’m limited by the world.” His belief is that when someone focuses solely on doing only what they do best, it is equivalent to creative suicide, virtually stunting their ability to grow any further. He went on to say, “I think in color. I live in color.” Thus the Vivian Westwood hat that currently typifies his image was not some preconceived plan hatched by him and his stylist, but rather a simple fashion choice that came to define his current persona, but if I am right that persona will continue to develop and change with the many moods that are Pharrell.

As a tribute to his genius, I’d like to barrow from his words by saying I tend to think in color as well. I suppose that’s why I have so little tolerance for those who insist upon painting the world and its inhabitants as if everything were ‘black and white’. Some days I forget all fifty shades of grey and instead draw my inspiration from the azure blues of the sky and sea and the verdant shades of chartreuse contrasting against the deep forest and mossy greens in the woods outside my windows. Just as you find very little that is truly black or white in nature, there is very little black or white in society that is not manmade.

Whether speaking in terms of fashion or a lifestyle choice there is not and never will be a ‘one size fits all’. We are not all heterosexual and we are not all homosexual. Some may find they are best suited for traditional values, while others tend to walk to the beat of their own drums. Even within our legal system, we can’t always agree with what constitutes pornography, or even when to classify the taking of another life as murder. We claim to be a ‘free’ nation, but there seems to be this ongoing struggle for government to have the right to tell women what they can or cannot do with their own bodies, despite legislation that was decided upon January 22, 1973 by our own United States Supreme Court.

We are a melting pot made up of many different cultures, different idealisms and different colors, and it is our differences that make us profoundly interesting, diversified and strong as a nation who – for the most part – still encourages individualism. We need a certain amount of conformity to uphold the laws of the nation so that we don’t descend into a state of anarchy, but beyond this whether one considers it ‘thinking outside the box’ or blowing the roof off of it altogether, it is this ability to see the world and beyond with kaleidoscopic vision that enables us all to celebrate that which continues to move our hearts and replenish our spirit through things like art, music, movies, architecture, technology and even the perfect cup of coffee. How boring and uninteresting would life be if we only saw through lenses colored black or white?

It’s not just ‘freedom of speech’ that makes us great, but freedom of expression that helps us to grow, pushing us beyond the current boundaries set by convention by seeking to tap into unused potential and continue to strive to break new ground in space exploration, modern medicine and agriculture just to name a few. Those who have contributed to making society a better, more digestable place to live in are not just ‘out of the box’ thinkers, but rather visionaries of universal proportions, because they are only bound by the limits of their own imagination and driven by a need to make things better. They see all of the colors of the spectrum as well as the shades in between while mapping out new territory that will come to define tomorrow’s new normal, and while I am a far lesser-known, card-carrying member of this same organization, the fact that I belong at all can’t help but make me feel ‘happy’.