Color

It’s been said over and over again—children don’t see color.

They don’t hesitate before making a new friend. They don’t categorize people into groups. They don’t carry the weight of history, of politics, of everything that adults attach to identity.

They just see people.

And then, somewhere along the way, that changes.

We start noticing the differences.
We start absorbing the unspoken rules.
We start hearing the warnings, the stereotypes, the whispered judgments.

Is it inevitable?

Are we all destined to become more cautious, more skeptical, more divided as we grow up?

Or is it something we learn because the world teaches us to?

Maybe it’s the experiences we’ve had.
Maybe it’s the stories we’ve been told.
Maybe it’s the fear passed down from those who came before us, telling us who to trust, who to be wary of, who is “like us” and who isn’t.

And once we see the difference, can we ever unsee it?

Can we ever go back to the way we saw the world as children—where a friend was just a friend, and a person was just a person?

Or are we forever changed? Forever jaded?

I don’t know the answer.

But maybe the real question isn’t whether we can go back.

Maybe it’s whether we choose to move forward—differently.