Colors of Perception🔊

Once upon a time, in a little town called Goldstin, there lived a boy named Taylor. Goldstin was unlike any other places; it was a specter of colors. There were houses of lavender, mango trees of emerald green, and even the soil was tinged in hues of purple and ochre. The residents prided themselves on the colors which made everything seem brighter, happier, and fuller than a regular day would in any other place.

Taylor, however, was devoid of colors. He was born with a rare condition that kept him from distinguishing shades. His world was constructed from just black and white, but he knew no difference, knew no alienation, for his world was harmonious in its simplicity.

On a bright sunny day, Taylor met Lily. Unlike Taylor, Lily wasn’t born in Goldstin. Yet, she fit perfectly well, maybe even more than the natives did. Lily was a burst of colors. Her dresses always complemented the wild hibiscus, and her laughter beat the cheerfulness of the sunniest day.

Intriguing to Taylor was the way people described Lily. 'She’s like a wildflower on a winter’s day,' some said. Others compared her to a rainbow, a burst of sunshine, or a breathtaking sunset. Though for Taylor, Lily was simply a silhouette, different in tenor than the rest.

Slowly, they developed a bond. Lily showed Taylor colors through feelings. She described red as a fiery passion, blue as tranquil as the lake, yellow as the warmth of the sun, and green as fresh youth of spring. Taylor began to perceive colors through his other senses that his eyes could not.

One day, an apothecary arrived in Goldstin. He was tall with an aura of sage wisdom and had traveled from distant lands. Hearing about Taylor’s condition, the apothecary offered a potion that could cure Taylor's eyes.

Believing this to be an opportunity to finally grasp what he had been missing, Taylor consumed the potion. The next morning, he woke up to a spectrum of colors so vivid that it made him daze. Every leaf, every stone, every being was radiating a unique color, so beautiful in its existence.

With eager anticipation, Taylor ran to see Lily, to finally see the burst of colors that Lily was described to be. But the Lily he met was different than the Lily he knew. Yes, he saw her auburn hair, her emerald-green eyes, the pink undertones of her skin, but something was off. Lily wasn’t the wildflower, the rainbow, the sunset he had imagined; she was just a girl with several colors on her. Lily was still the same, but Taylor’s perception of her changed.

Over time, Taylor realized the beauty he had known was not in colors. It was through his perception of objects through feelings. The colors did bring a new perspective, but they also clouded his other sensations, which once helped him see the world in ways no one else could.

He didn’t regret his choice but missed his colorless world for it held an essence of purity and imagination, ran deeper than any shade of blue or green. He missed how musical Lily’s laughter sounded when he wasn’t obstructed by the distraction of her bright red dress or her shiny blue eyes.

The potion had changed his way of appreciating the world but in exchange, took the ability to perceive it with his imaginative mind. The absence of colors had lent him a perspective to discern the essence beyond the apparent. Yet, Taylor had no regrets. For in, essence, change was the crucible of experience. And life was but a collage of these experiences, etched in forever for their unique hue.