Shades of Pandemic: Tinted Black
You know, I’ve been thinking about this topic for quite some time, and there’s a lot of perspectives you can take it from. I mean, we can talk about the general pandemic right now and what we should do, what we should expect, all those good stuff. Or we can talk about it quite literally and analyze that word ‘shades’. Well, leaning towards the latter, shade can mean shelter from sunlight, protection from the rain, sunglasses, or in today’s slang, it can even mean dissing someone. In this article, I’ll also be analyzing the word ‘shade’ and while I’m no artist or painter, and definitely not a philosopher by any means, I’ll be taking on the perspective of shades in color and what that means in our lives, during this pandemic.
In a color palette, shade refers to a hue of color to which black is added into the original mixture.
So let’s analyze that process. Many people understand black as a color representing negativity, and that is quite possibly derived through many different sources. For instance, the Bible touches upon black being a representation of suffering and death. Other sources quote black as evil, representing darkness and despair. Even color psychology states that the color black is capable of evoking emotions such as sadness and anger.
This understanding can actually be aligned with the current pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in millions of deaths worldwide, suffering across multidimensional aspects of life, and has evoked emotions of despair, sadness, grief, and anger. Some may even call this the dark times of the 21st century. Yep, pretty similar to that previous understanding of the color.
Now at this point, after reading the paragraphs preceding this one, you may think then that the shades we create from incorporating black would also have negative connotations, or in other words, our lives touched by the pandemic would be completely hopeless. And I’m not going to lie to you and say that those negative impacts don’t exist, or that everything is alright because it clearly is not. But I am inviting you to see the situation from a different perspective. You see, we need to take a step back and realize that the addition of the color black does create new shades of color, and those shades have new meanings that are not so negative after all.
Allow me to take a few examples. Red. The color of fiery passion but also the color of anger. In our daily lives pre-pandemic, I have no doubt that we all had a fire in us to achieve our dreams and goals. I’m sure we also had an impatient side to us that would explode during times of high stress. Now add a tint of black into the color and we create maroon. Maroon is a warm color that represents relaxation and creativity. This tells us a few things. You see, you may feel like the pandemic has stopped your drive for achievement, but it merely provides a different approach to your goal. We need to realize that while chasing our passion is great, anything overdone is never good, and being fired up constantly is just not the way to go, as it is both tiring and unhealthy. Not to mention the anger and stress that comes with it. This pandemic actually gives us room to calm down and relax, since the whole world has slowed down due to the amounts of restrictions. And actually, if you think about it, when we finally learn to take a step back, we can see things from a new perspective and our vision becomes clearer. This is where creativity can finally enter our minds.
The same concept also applies to the color yellow, the color of energy. Back then we used to exceed so much energy in our daily lives that we often forget that we need to stop and rest. The black in this pandemic gives us room to slow down, take a break, breathe, and create the color green, which represents tranquility and inner peace.
My final example, the color blue. Blue may represent freedom or intelligence, but it also represents depression. We may not realize it, but the society we live in is full of pressure and expectations, to the point that some people may find themselves feeling lost in who they are trying to fulfill the demands of society. When we add black to the color blue, we create navy, and this represents stability and unity. You see, social distancing doesn’t just mean being apart from society, it also means parting yourself from the judging eyes of society, the unrealistic expectations, and the neverending pressure. It provides you time to indulge with yourself and who you are, what you want as an individual. This leads to unity with your own conscience and stability of mind and soul.
As we can see, the tint of black didn’t set off such a dark and miserable path. This is where we realize that black doesn’t always have to represent something so evil.
Black doesn’t just mean death and darkness. It also means strength and power. It means protection and comfort. It means new beginnings.
Okay, we get it, a tinge of black doesn’t make everything so bad but so what?
The point that I’m trying to convey is that even color can be seen in more than one perspective, so why can’t our situation be too? Is this pandemic a miserable time in life? Of course! Is it agonizing to go through? Yes, a million times yes! But is that all there is to it? No. You see, although it may seem hopeless and suffocating, this pandemic actually gives birth to new beginnings for a lot of positive opportunities in our lives. This pandemic forced us to stop living our ordinary lives and find shelter in our homes and fully connect us with the safest person we can interact with in these times, ourselves.
This pandemic is an open opportunity for us to tune into our inner being and find power and strength in who we are, be comfortable in our own skin.
What I’m trying to say is that nothing is purely good or inherently evil, and there are always two sides to a story. So even while these times seem so bad, it’s up to us to find a way to bring out the light in the dark. And that means not just paying mind to all the negatives, but trying to also focus on the good things in life, enjoying your life, and most importantly using the time to love yourself more.
A philosopher by the name of Henry David Thoreau once wrote,
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
Yes, understanding the negativity of the pandemic is necessary, but let’s not let that overcloud our vision of the positive outlooks in our lives, and instead try to shift our focus to the light.
Notes:
- This was originally a speech that I delivered on my Instagram (andiniandy) and then refined a bit for this upload.
- The pandemic I’m talking about is specifically the COVID-19 Pandemic since it is the one I can personally relate to and also the one currently happening.
