The Definition of Blue

This is actually an extended thought I came up with one night while thinking about my favorite color. Please swim in and enjoy my thoughts on the best color in the world: blue.

To begin with, I chose to write a thought on the color blue for two reasons: it is my favorite color and it has an enigmatic aura which is I find very entrancing. Blue is undeniably the coolest color out of all of them; it represents the endless sky, the vast ocean, restful sleep, and the sparkling twilight. If you were to crack open the color blue, you would find a peaceful heart, beating slow and steady as it pumps tranquil sustenance throughout the body of life. It is the color of calm, distance, clarity, and peace. If you want something that calms your nerves, opens your flow of communication, broadens your perspective in learning new things, and brings you solitude and peace; then roll that joint, light it up and take a hit of some blue.

            Although blue is a wonderful color associated with many good things, there are some distinct traits that it does not embody. It is a chill color; it is not bold like red, sorrowful like gray, austere like brown, loving like pink, zesty like orange, joyful like yellow, thriving like gold, fertile like green, mysterious like black, or pure like white. Blue is not the color you would find shoving and pushing people around in a mosh-pit at a heavy metal rock concert. Blue is also definitely not the color you would find at a ring in Mexico trying to assert its dominance over a raging bull. Neither is he the one you’d find sky-diving out of an airplane at several hundred feet or riding through a traffic jam on a motorcycle going at 100 mph because that is just insane. You can leave all of that foolishness to red. He’s going to get killed one day.

            Delving deeper into the meaning of blue, a concept I’d like to elaborate upon is the idea that blue is exceedingly vast. Take the sky for example. What do you see when you look up at the great, big, blue sky? You see a majestic painting littered with wisps of clouds that stretch on for miles and miles literally as far as the eye can see. Can you really measure something so cosmic? No, you cannot; and that is the case with the color blue: its level of depth is so far-reaching that it would be suicide to try to define its characteristics. Death would surely occur before any real progress could be made on defining and categorizing its many distinctions. For further evidence I beckon you to look at the deep blue ocean. Just like the sky, it stretches for miles as far as the eye can see. But just like blue, the oceans have depth. There is extreme depth. The kind of depth where someone can swim for 2 months non-stop and only reach halfway on his or her journey to the bottom. It is the kind of depth that will crush you down to the size of a pea because the pressure is just so immense. It is pretty ironic that although the ocean practically covers most of the earth, scientists still haven’t even begun to understand the complexities of the ocean. That statement right there is a parallel to the current state of affairs involving blue.

            Blue may look quiet and reserved on the outside but rest assured that there is much more going on down beneath the surface. Down-wellings, up-wellings, and swift-moving currents are bubbling beneath the guise of a peaceful and slow-moving exterior. Blue has also an unassuming strength of self which can be likened unto a floating iceberg. At first glance, icebergs may appear sluggish and minute. But on the contrary, they extend for miles down beneath the surface and have the power to crack open ships and tear apart mountains. This is the quintessence of blue: a broad and sweeping force tempered with patience and meekness.

Though blue may have some interesting qualities which make it unique, it is not for everybody. Some people prefer to bang heads with the likes of red or celebrate all day with the likes of yellow. But there are some people who choose to kick it with the likes of blue; and that in my eyes is a beautiful thing. But just for the record, those people as well as I know that blue is a notion that can never be defined.

Author's Note

I want to get better. Let me know anything that can help me do that.

Reviews

[Chris T.]

Your writing characterizes the colors as if they are living and breathing. It was refreshing, and I really enjoyed reading on to discover what comparisons you had up your sleeve.

"It is the color of calm, distance, clarity, and peace. If you want something that calms your nerves..." think of another way to describe 'calm' for the second line, it's a bit redundant as it stands.

The use of words like "pretty" and "so" and "definitely" are words you should strive to stay away from. Let me explain:
1. "It is pretty ironic..." the word "pretty" serves to undermine the irony of your statement. It tells the reader "it's 'kind-of-but-not-entirely' ironic". The same can be said for the phrase "sort of".
2. "the pressure is just so immense..." The phrase "just so" is a bit of a crutch. You painted some terrific imagery throughout this, but then you didn't want to show us HOW immense the ocean truly is. Get rid of the word so, and really sell the enormity of the ocean!!! On that note, the word "definitely" serves the same purpose. You are telling us something is "definitely" the case, so show us why that is! I know you can do imagery, so don't sell yourself short!

I look forward to reading more by you!

[Stella]

I was amazed by this !! You brought the colors to life and I now have a new found appreciation for the color blue.

[Matt Winters]

I will admit I have never seen anyone praise blue so well, but nice job. I enjoyed your word usage and I wait with bated breath for your expose on light blue versus baby blue.

[Green]

Your imagery is fantastic. However, you start several sentences in a row with the word but. 'But there are some people...But just for the record...' I love the way you use your descriptions to add a sense of personality and magnitude, but in certain places i think some of your points get swallowed by sentences that are too wordy.