Color-Blind??

 Anyone who knows me knows a fun fact about me. I’m a comic book nerd. Granted, I might be generous in using that term, considering that I barely have time to indulge in that now nor did I have the means to indulge in it when I was younger. However, it didn’t stop me from conversing with my friends about it actively and often. My favorite hero was Marvel’s Daredevil. I suppose if I had to give a reason, it would be due to him overcoming blindness (one of many fears I had as a child) with his other enhanced senses, his superb physical conditioning, martial arts prowess and notably his catholic faith (which I subscribe to, although once again, I might be generous in claiming that). So, you can imagine how many backflips the boy inside of me did when the Daredevil series came out on Netflix and (oh sweet Joseph) I wasn’t disappointed. Just looking at it made me wanna jump up and give Mr. Stan Lee (creator of Marvel comics) a standing ovation.

  During the first season, there was a scene where the main antagonist, Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) met future love interest, Vanessa Marianna (Ayelet Zurer) in an art gallery, where Fisk was admiring a paint she was selling. The piece in question was simply a canvas with “different shades of white”, referred to as "the rabbit in a snow storm" or something along those lines. Now granted, I’m not an art expert but I know enough to know that it was a sorely lacking piece simply because of one fact; it was completely devoid of color!

 Now, I start off with this in order to steer into the topic that I’m really interested in discussing. As some of you may have heard, the US had an election, which was won by an “interesting individual”, to put it mildly (now before I go on, let me get this out of the way now, THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL PIECE! I AM NOT HERE TO VOICE ANY OPINION IN REGARDS TO THE COMICAL, CONFUSING, THREE-RING CIRCUS THAT WAS COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS THE 2016 US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION!!). Said individual had quite a few vocal supporters, including conservative political commentator and professional angry person, Tomi Lahren, who by the way always struck me as being royally pissed whenever I saw her show. Although that wasn’t meant to be a cheap shot at Ms. Lahren since I am neither a proponent nor opponent of hers, her show or her work, I must confess that every time I see her show, I find myself wondering if somebody owes her money.

 Ms. Lahren was a guest on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, where she discussed the political climate along with her views on the above mentioned. I will admit, I did agree with one or two things she said, i.e. her having respect for diversity of thought (whether she meant it or not is a different subject all together, but then again, who am I to question). However, she made a comment that struck me quite hard, i.e. “I don’t see color”.

 I don’t see color. If ever there was a statement that was an utter “shoot-and-miss”, that would be it. Now, Ms. Lahren probably said that to imply that she wouldn’t judge a person based on the amount of melanin they had in their skin, which I have no reason to doubt. Although I don’t know her, I will give her the benefit of the doubt and take her statement at face value. But, the statement itself, while meant to be bluntly reassuring and perhaps a little self-righteous, is inaccurate.

 We live in a world of color. Sports teams use it to cement their identity. Military and outdoors-men use it to mask and disguise their presence. Manufacturers use it to emphasize the superiority of their brand and so on. Color isn’t just an end-result of the sheer infinite number of possible combinations and permutations of visual spectrum. It is the tool of the artist, the weapon of the merchant, the identity of the team and so on.

 When it comes to people, however, it’s a bit more complicated. Hell, the introduction of this piece alone is long enough to fill up a brochure. So, I’ll get to the point.

 When somebody says something like “I don’t see color”, it is both misguided and dangerously naive. Granted, I appreciate a person who can look at me and judge me by the merits of my character rather than by the darkness of my skin, but that’s not the way to go about it. Personally, I see color and I embrace every shade that I come across, be it black, white or whatever Starbucks coffee beverage your skin most resembles (I’ve been told I look like a light macchiato, but I like to think I’m more of a dark cinnamon chai-latte).

 Bottom line, when I look upon you, whoever you are, whoever you may be, know that I see you. I see your color and YOU are beautiful. So please, look at me and see my color because it DESCRIBES me, but it doesn’t DEFINE me.