Friday, March 6, 2015

The day of the dress debate...

Black and blue, white and gold...what colors do you see, what team are you on?

I am on the white and gold team, now considered to be the losing team by this point, a fact I have been reminded of by my husband.  He obviously is on the black and blue team.  He likes to stress that he is correct...it is slightly annoying.  

If you were anywhere near social media last week, you probably saw the image of the dress.  It was crazy...even my children who were nowhere near social media were begging to see the dress when they got out of school the following day.  The debate spread like wild fire.  My children are also on Team Black and Blue, making their father very proud.

This Day of the Dress Debate brought up so many thoughts for me.  It's interesting that we are all so quick to see the dress solely from our point of view and completely disagree with those who do not perceive its appearance in the same way.  We do not try to see it differently, but confidently insist that those who disagree with our view are wrong.  Granted, one would not expect such a debate about color, after all, it is black and white (yes, ridiculous pun intended). 

The thing about this particular controversy is that it represents so many other situations we experience on a daily basis.  

The Day of the Dress Debate symbolizes that we do not all perceive things in the same manner, not even when it comes to a seemingly undebatable topic such as color.  

Our perceptions are our views and they should be respected, even when they are not considered to be part of the "correct" or "winning" team.  Whether you "see" black and blue, white and gold or maybe even the more rare colors of purple and gray, it's your perception and it's worth something. Playing the game of life is much more fun and interesting when we are not always on the same team.

The differences among us is made even more evident to me every day when I watch children in classrooms learn...they are each unique with their own formula for learning.  They perceive things differently and do not clearly fit into a black and white square box.  And, really, why on earth would we want them to?  Life would certainly be dull and boring.

So I end this post by asking you to go forth and be kind and respect others, even those who may not always be on your team.  




Happy Belated Birthday to Dr. Seuss.  Here's another Dr. Seuss post too.

and if you are curious about the science behind the dress, here is a link.