Color of Life

Short

story by

Shaira Mae C. Repil

Third Place, Literary Contest 2023 Short Story Category

Living as a normal person means having to face different phases of your life. It isn’t limited to only living life to the fullest. We also have downs every once in a while. We feel warmth in a particular moment, and greyness in others. For instance, in an image, when we see it's in black and white, we view it as a sad moment, while viewing monochromatic art makes us feel emotionless On the other hand, a colorful picture radiates positive energy In art, this element is important as it helps us to portray the message to the audience clearer

In movies or films, when it is in black and white, we assume that the plot of it is melodramatic, and the chromatic ones are full of life. We may underestimate monochrome films because, even though they lack color, they still provide learning for us that can be applied in life. Speaking of life, when we look back to an old moment, it comes back to us in black and white, while those fun ones and serotonin boosters are in color.

People we surround ourselves with every day also represent these two spectra of colors. Our circle of friends can also be monochrome and chromatic because of their personalities. Not everyone is the same- we have different points of view and experiences. Just like color-blind people, we may not understand why they view things in a different way, literally, but we still learn from them. People who come and go in our life also bring shade in it. These people are the ones who put colors in our life, and sometimes, they are the ones who take it away, which also goes both ways. We will never know what our effect on theirs is.

Our life is a movie with ourselves being the main characters. We also have rising action and falling action moments. Just like what I have experienced during pandemic, there's a lot of overwhelming emotions during that period which tested my strength and breakdowns. This period, though, was also taken advantage by me to bond with my family, and to make up our lost bond because of being busy Mundane moments gave me time to reflect on many things, such as my actions and lively moments, and this made me realize that we only live once

Although we see the other color annoying, it is part of our life. It is inevitable. All we can do is face them, the challenges, our fears, and even the people we ran away from. Not everything is in our favor, and we should accept that. The world doesn't revolve around us, so we do not have special treatment to be exempted from unpleasant experiences. Take them as a lesson so we do not repeat those again. Having a grey moment doesn't mean we're weak. It shows how strong we are to surpass them.