The Colors of My Life
By Kum Ja Lee
"The rainbow IS the pot of gold." Finding this on a
card made me think about the colors in my life. I cannot define my life in terms of one color because it is
very complicated. I believe that
life is full of color and reflects the images of many. Each step of my life has
been different, in terms of color association. They are expressed in joy, anger, sadness, loneliness,
pleasure and happiness.
When I was a child, I thought life was a rainbow and could be beautiful
and wonderful. Achromatic colors,
such as white, gray, or black did not attract me. However, now I recognize the fact that they help all colors
shine. Rainbow colors reflect the
diversity of life. In my case, I
saw yellow as being the time between birth and age six. From seven to twelve, my life was
orange. My childhood was filled
with naivetŽ, delight and possibility.
My teenage years were associated with pink. I dreamed a lot of pink things.
Red and blue represent my twenties. Like the color red, I was highly passionate, determined,
emotional and courageous. At the
same time, I was strong, active, reasonable, alert, sentimental, spiritual and
critical. These I see as being
more characteristic of blue. Red
and blue are strong clear, and nearly opposite colors, reflecting the two very
different and strongly conflicting division of my life. Half of my time was spent as an artist,
and the other half as a public official.
After marriage in my thirties, life became green. It was much more peaceful and
stable. Above all, it was joyful
for me to have two sons. When I
looked at my babies, I felt the purity, calmness and peace associated with the
color green. Now I am in my
forties. I think this time is
expressed by purple and indigo (deep blue). Purple is symbolic of nobleness,
elegance and loftiness. I guess
brown will indicate my senescence.