The following is a dramatization of virtually every social media interaction I’ve had in the past year. Some details have been changed to protect the innocent…or the guilty…depending on what you think of red and yellow and maybe skin cancer. And apricots. Please never give me a *hugs*
Original poster (me): I absolutely love the color orange. There’s something about it that really seems to tickle the nether reaches of the soul. Any other orange lovers? Holla yo!
Person A: I hate everything about orange. How could you possibly find any value in it?
Me (in response): Sometimes when I’m having a really hard day (the kind that takes a potato peeler to your hope and self worth and sense of belonging), I watch the sunset. On those days, it’s usually orange and somehow it rights the ship, plugs the holes, and realigns myself with my Self again and I make peace with the world around me.
Person B: The sun kills millions of people. Have you ever seen the statistics on skin cancer? Not to mention that sunblock is tested on animals so you have to add those deaths to the equation. Plus, no offense, your face is looking wrinkled. *hugs*
Me (in response): well typically the amount of radiation when the sun is going down is minimal so the risk of cancer is virtually nonexistent but thank you for sharing. My face is more wrinkled from the bad days than it is from the sun.
Me (new mainline post…part of the original thread but I’m tech challenged so I don’t know the proper terminology): Even the soft sweet smell and feel of a freshly picked apricot. Like baby fuzz perfection wrapped in a tiny orange orb. Regardless of any religious or spiritual affiliation, the first bite of a perfectly ripe apricot is absolutely heavenly.
Person C: Orange is a combination of red and yellow. Red makes me think of all the people who are needlessly dying all over the world today because they couldn’t afford an apricot. Yellow makes me think of bananas, whose growing and harvesting are completely decimating the rainforests.
Person B (joins the thread): the sun is yellow too. It’s funny you chose to combine the two colors of destruction. I’m sorry you’re so dark these days. *hugs*
Me: I see what you’re saying, but colors are really just wavelengths of light that the brain registers at a certain point in the color spectrum. I hope you don’t have any issues with lemons because life has thrown all of us plenty of those (where my shuggah at?)…lol. As for the sun, it’s technically UV light that our eyes and brain don’t recognize so in the scrambling to make sense of the experience our brain calls it yellow. In regards to being “dark”, ironically it’s the orange that pulls me out. All I’m saying is give carrots a chance! Lol
(person B never responds and unfriends me…then two hours later friends person C)
Person D (randomly two days later) copies and pastes an article from WaPo about a study that found a small percentage of people who like orange are social deviants and possibly defective. There is no context so I’m not entirely sure if I am effective or defective.
Then A, B, C, and D all click ‘like’ on each other’s comments and have a conversation about the awfulness of the color orange. They mutually agree that they hope I’m doing ok and that I’m able to move through my struggles.
Me: Deletes the original post. Once again signs off and deactivates my social media presence. Goes outside to watch the sunset.
*whispers to the glorious celestial event above* :
I fucking love you Orange.
magnificent.
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