THE OCEAN IS ORANGE

There once was two men and a lady friend of theirs who were taking a stroll down by the ocean. As they silently walked along the white sandy beach each of them were filled with a sense of peace and even awe at the majestic ocean that stretched out before them. As they stopped to rest one of the men stated,"Isn't the ocean just so beautiful with the blue water that it contains?" "Yes, it is beautiful" stated the other fellow, "but the water is not blue, it is green." The woman chimed in with " I agree that this ocean is so beautiful but both of you are wrong, the water is actually aqua marine colored!" As the three of them continued their debate as to what color the water actually was an old blind man happened upon the argument. As he stopped and listened to the debate he just smiled to himself and then introduced himself to his new "friends" he had just met. "Please pardon my intrusion into your friendly debate as to what color the ocean is. Would you folks care to hear my opinion?" After being warmly greeted and told that they would love to hear what he had to say the old blind man stated, "This ocean is orange." His 3 new friends chuckled and thought he was just trying to be funny. "Why would you say that", they inquired of him, and then the old man began his story. "Well, it's like this, a long time ago I was where you are now. I carried my perceptions of things high up in my mind thinking I really knew what I was talking about. If I saw something that seemed so true to me then I would be quick to argue my point and try to disprove anyone else's point of view. I was just so convinced that I was "right" about things and others were oft times wrong if they did not see things as I perceived them. But then everything changed. Literally overnight! I totally lost my eyesight. I was a young man who could no longer "see". I was at first in deep despair and could not figure out why my eyesight had been taken from me. But after accepting things as they were I began to realize that even though I was now "blind" I could still learn to really "SEE". "I won't go into all the details of my journey but I will tell you why I say the ocean is orange. You see, before I "lost" my eyesight orange was my favorite color. I never was sure why but I just loved orange! So now, as I stand here on this warm sandy beach looking out over this majestic ocean I see it filled with vibrant orange colors. That is why I say the ocean is orange! "But after all, does the color really matter? You see green, you see blue, you see Aqua, I see orange, so what? You know that really doesn't change the ocean one bit. It is all only our own particular perception of color and color is only an illusion. A bending of light in some way I will never fully understand!" The other 3 listened intently to this old blind man as he spoke and then decided he was probably right. It didn't really matter that they had different opinions as to the waters color. They could instead just enjoy their perception, their beauty of the ocean, while at the same time allowing others to do the same even if the perceptions were different. Just imagine a world where everyone could be free to express their "Truth" without having to defend it, or to convince anyone else of it's merits. Back to the characters in this little story, which one would you care to say is "right" or "wrong"? Personally I'd have to say all of them are right! So I leave you with hopes that you can and will color your "oceans" of life any damned color you wish too! And as you do please try to remember to allow everyone else to do the same. There is plenty of room for all "Truths" and a blank canvas for us to use to color our world as we see fit. Be good to yourself and even better to others my friends. I leave you with thoughts of love, peace, and oneness for all.