GRAY HEART: A colorless cafard about social conformity

	wired with filaments of steel &
	zinc cybernetic cables
	wrapped in metallic molds &
	pin-striped business labels
	this heart has become 
	an ash-colored haze pep-
	pered with plutonium grey

	inside 
	i desire to be any color that
	dances or flutters - 
	to be a rose or scarlet
	& soar though a spectrum of hues
	instead of a bland solid
	color afraid to
	stand out & holler

	forget all colors of mediocrity 
	& shades of bland conformity 

	forget all tints arising
	from compromising halfway
	never shining brighter 
	than a pale leaden grey

	be the colors 
	you were born to be: 
	whether that's black, blue, 
	yellow, or green!

	Don't pretend to be 
	every friggin' possible thing
	because if you mix each color 
	only grey is seen.


Soo:     Grey is de codex of de-individualization. When you strip yourself ah individuality
         & join a kor-rec-tive, grey results.

Elijah:  Yeah, grey is what happens when Clorox bleach meets the depths of our souls. 
         When people compromise too much, there's no clarity, power, or conviction.

Ellesha: (scratching his nose) On the other hand, grey is perfectly neutral & has a 
         curious flexibility. It's not so hard for grey to manifest into other shades.

Philyra: (emphatically) You don't get the point! We are never neutral. As long as we are 
         in this world, we must make choices & invariably manifest some shade. That 
         needn't indicate your core identity, but you should take responsibility for the 
         choices you make.

=====================================================================================
from _Let the waters be my witness: Messages about our watery world_ by T Newfields
SUMMARY:  Some thoughts about illusive neutrality and the hidden costs of conformity.
KEYWORDS: complacent conformity, illusion of neutrality, psychological languor, inner estrangement

Begun: 1997 in Shizuoka, Japan / Finished: 2018 in Yokohama, Japan
Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted
by T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ]

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TRANSLATIONS

DEUTSCH:  https://www.tnewfields.info/de/grauen.htm
ESPAÑOL:  https://www.tnewfields.info/es/gris.htm
fr/gris.htm
NIHONGO:  https://www.tnewfields.info/jp/hai.htm