THERE ONCE WAS A WORLD...

In which nothing bad ever happened. There once was a world in which smell was always coconut and feel was always Pleasure.

There once was a world in which there were no "minorities" and everyone simply saw each other as Human.

There once was a world in which trivialistic human angst was known as "science fiction."

There once was a world in which Pain was a malady and one could pop an avacado to bypass the Ill.

No one died, was hurt, was physically or emotionally bereft. There once was a world in which all human beans were paragons of health; they clenched and flexed to their hearts' delight.

There once was a world which was filmed in black-and-white, choppy, cinematography.

And then someone--I ain't sayin' whom--took a bite of an avacado, and color began to filter into everyday existence.

Color started off small, "greening" the avacado, but, eventually, it had its fingers in every phase of Life.

Eventually, apples were "red" and bananas were "yellow." Teeth which had once been seen as "white" were now seen as "mother-of-pearl." Cigarette smoke, which had been seen as gossamer "white" now became to be seen as grayish-yellowish-bluish. And it was determined that smoke was Bad.

Beer turned "yellow-orangish." Crack rocks stayed "white."

After awhile, I'd had enough. I walked outside my apartment and I took in the "yellowing" sky. I took in the acrimony that color had instilled. (I threw my avacado to the street where a half-"blue"-half-dark automobile subsequently crushed it.) I looked at my companion, my boy Lou. He was sheathed in shadows, though, as I watched, his formerly dark fur took on a lovely brindled pattern of "gold," "brown" and "black."

I thought to myself: "Color might not be such a bad thing."

Louie's "pink" tongue unfurled like a banner. He grinned.

And--shit--and then I turned on the turntable: I'd been listening to Beethoven before "The Change." On some level I had felt a connection, but, now? Now I heard his Ninth as he had heard it his mind when he had cobbled it together:

"Blue" and "red" and "green" coexisting to form a beautiful harmony of "bliss." I sat, slack-jawed, as the Beauty washed over me.

There once was a world without color. It is all of ours duty to color with our paintbrushes: Be they actual paintbrushes, or words on a piece of white paper, or beautiful lyrics, or beautiful music....

We are here for a reason. We may not know what that reason is, at this point in time, but I'll tell you this:

As an ancient Chinese proverb once said: "The longest journey begins with a single step."