MY THOUGHTS ABOUT RED
I grew up and went to school during the 50's and 60's. In rural upstate NY. As I remember,
Red was a common color in those days.
Red was my favorite for many years until Metalflake came along,next there was Candy Apple Red.
I remember I had a Red wagon, I had a Red snow sled, I enjoyed a little pedal car that you could
sit in and ride,I believe that was Red too.But while in High School it was the Metalflake Red hot rods in "Hot Rod" magazine that really caught my attention. All kinds of different shapes and sizes and colors, but the Metalflake Red ones really stood out. 1951 Ford 2 door coup was my favorite at the time.
Lots of Metalflake glimmering with the sun's reflection.COOL. And later on they put that very same color on speedboats, then bass fishing boats. After that CandyApple Red took over on the Hot Rod scene.
Also, I can recall seeing lots of Red on my school work. No I didn't markup my homework with
pictures of Red hot rods n boats n things. Well not all the time anyway. It seems my teachers liked the color Red too. They would always correct my school work with a Red pencil, how cool that was.
I didn't get their markings mixed up with my doodlings. My teachers ( and that is what they were then), were there to teach, just as I was there to learn. Every one of them used Red marking pencils to grade my work. We need to be Graded you know , or we wouldn't know if we were improving or regressing in our quest for knowledge.I recall all notations were in Red, both good and bad they would use a / mark to note the incorrect answers and a C to note the correct answers. Then our score or grade was put at the top of the
page usually a number with a circle around it. Passing or Failing got the same Red circle.And maybe some ???'s
We never thought anything about the color.
It was the number at the top of the paper that counted. Sure was good to see 100%.
even though it was in Red. Who cares? I've seen penty of 40's 50's and 60's also in Red.
( Colors don't Count Numbers do).
It's the number that lets us know if we're learning anything or not. And it's testing that lets us know if we are
retaining what we learn.
Now let me say this. Not all Red is good. The Red army is bad, the Red coats were bad, Red oozing out of
the human body is not usually a good thing, I believe that Code Red is probably not good either.
And I'm sure there are others.
But lets take a look at some of the of other colors, what about black and blue, that hurts, Black is
beautiful but hard to keep clean. Blue skies and eyes are nice, but blue lips and skin are not (I better breath here).
Folks don't like gray when it's the color of the sky or hair or skin. Purple spots on skin are sometimes painfull
to touch. Pink is not good when it's in the eye. And what about yellow, fever or jaundice? Take brown for instance.
It has both good and bad qualities, brown skin is nice, brown eyes are beautiful, brown hair is prevalant and good.
At the same time brown spots on your lungs are bad, brownouts not a good thing, and most bodily wastes are brown
although it's good to be rid of it, it's not a real pleasant sight. And how about Green we hear alot about green
these days. Ah green is so good. Oh really? what about green envy? Envy is not good there is way to much of it
happening lately. Green on food items not good. Green behind the ears? Well it leaves room for improvement.
I don't like the green that comes out of lobsters either. I think about our US currency being green thats good, unless it's our coins corroding and losing value. But with our new paper $$'s
their putting some Red blends into it lately. Which is a good thing (security purposes) Green trees are nice,
green hair is stupid until March 17. Green house gases ( CO2). Good for plants not good for people but plants
breath it and replenish our oxygen (not sure what color it is) but thats a good thing. GOD made it that way.
As with anything, there are good and notso good points to be made. So to take the color Red out of our schools and out of
our lives because a few can't deal with the negatives in their own minds is utterly wrong. Christmas with out RED
would be pretty dull for lots of kids. But then those same insecure people are the ones who want to remove
CHRISTMAS too!
May GOD bless us all.
PS: and soon
Lynn Wright
9/29/2009
