Love Letters in Crayon: Green
Quite possibly exclusive to our beautiful homeworld, this verdant tone brims with life.
Every Friday afternoon, “64 to Infinity: Love Letters in Crayon” will illustrate the long, strange story of humankind in one of the 64 colors that make up this world-famous primary palette. In the last Love Letter, we sampled a fruit once forbidden by nature itself but animated by accident, Granny Smith Apple. Today, we remain in the color family with the signature shade of our precious biosphere: Green!
Whether in the Original 8, The 64, or an even more kaleidoscopic collection, no set of any size is complete without this classic crayon.
The spectrum segment recognized by our eyes as Green carries a natural connection with health and vitality, immediately calling to mind the dominant color of thriving vegetation here on The Planet.
This color lies close to the absolute center of the visual spectrum, giving it an inherent character of balance and stability as it places minimal strain on the human eye itself.
Green enjoys widespread usage in national flags, most often symbolizing the terrestrial lands to which a country's native citizens lay their temporary claims on our determined march through history.
More than a few segments of global society share a particular affinity for this invigorating yet tranquil tone, giving them commonalities that may seem at first surprising.
Green is featured in the Pan-African flag designed by philosopher Marcus Garvey in his attempt to reorient displaced peoples in the aftermath of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and also has a well-documented history with Ireland and Gaelic culture.
It has an especially high profile throughout North Africa and Southwest Asia, where it manifests the idealized lushness of the eternal paradise Islam's billions of peaceful practitioners strive toward each day.
Green carries a nearly universal association with safety and sustainability, acknowledged in common concepts such as the green traffic light, which has become standard on The Planet.
Its associated precious stone, the emerald, was long believed to represent compassion as well as the shared inheritances of the human family.
In various mystic traditions, it is the color of the "Heart Chakra," spiritual source of true love, enduring joy, and inner peace.
Each new spring has added to the legacy of limitless renewal merited by this verdant tone since before the dawn of recorded history.
Green is also the signature shade of a certain comic book Corps of intergalactic peacekeepers bound in their latitude to act only by the strength of their individual willpower and imagination, and now you see why I am obsessed with this color.
Green was one of my first favorite colors, and still holds a special place in my heart today. Join us next week as we examine a color that is no less interesting, but certainly a bit more unsettling…next week’s Love Letter goes out to Green-Yellow!
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