All the Colors of the World

Personal November 01, 2008

It's a bit interesting how things have changed since I was in 2nd grade. Back in my day, we had to walk FIFTEEN. . .feet to the bathroom. But even in our innocence there was some competition.

Crayons used to seem to govern the social status. I remember the kid who came to school with the box of 96 crayons. Oh, how he was worshipped. And, if he also had a built-in pencil sharpener, he was untouchable.

There was something about crayons: the more the better and the more happier and popular you would get. And here I was with my little box of 16. All I really have are the basic colors: red, orange, blue. . . But what I really needed was "tropical island ocean blue tinted green."

The thing was, boxes of 96 crayons weren't hard to get. They only cost three dollars or so. Why didn't I ever get one then? My parents said, "you don't need crayons to be happy. Red alone is a very sociable color." So I ended up borrowing crayons in class.

If my memory serves me (and it does), I had once wanted to borrow a light pinkish blue but its owner was using it. "Use white," he said.

White?

What can you do with white? Where has there ever been black paper to write upon? White is the most useless crayon. It really bothers me. I'll say this: the crayon companies know it's a scam.

"Just throw in a white crayon. They'll pay for 16 but really only get 15. It's great!"

Of course, black was the most popular color. What else could you outline in? I think there should have been two black crayons in each pack instead of one black and one white. This would have been much more efficient. More integrated.

I believe the most popular color-other than black-was gold. But, of course, gold only was available to the elite with their 96 selections. But it makes a bit of sense: gold for the rich, brown for…us. So, just to spite them, I made do with my brown, coloring trees and logs and brown animals. Meanwhile they drew golden castles and golden trees and animals. And to everyone else in the class, a gold bird was better than a regular one.

Though I didn't want to have to ask the 96-crayon kid for anything, I eventually would have to crawl back because my tip broke and I wanted to use his sharpener. That's one of the main problems with crayons. You can't press too hard or too soft; you have to have the right touch.

I guess I never did.

Finally it came. My first day with 96 crayons was memorable. I walked in the door and sat down, my little treasure tucked away. I eagerly awaited the teacher to say, "okay-take out your crayons." When she finally did, I modestly removed the box, its numbers glittering in the light. I casually and hypothetically ask anyone if they'd like to use "tropical island ocean blue tinted green" knowing I'd get a dozen acceptances. I waited. I waited more.

Then I realized a crowd wasn't forming. I wondered. Where's all the commotion? Why isn't everyone gathering around me?

Apparently that day was the birth of the sniff markers.

Soon I was on the waiting list to smell "lemon yellow" and "purple grape.." Soon crayons were out, sniffing was in. See? This is how THAT all started. . .

But despite the fact that days later nearly everyone came in with fruity markers, I saw that they didn't help their drawings at all. I soon realized that I drew better than anyone in the class, even with my out-dated crayons.

I was the first to use colored pencils while everyone sniffed "grape". It didn't quite set a new trend but I was still happy. I had all the colors I needed to myself while, later, the 96-crayon kid was reduced to playing with his little white crayon, since all his other colors had been borrowed.

After teachers realized the potentially harmful effects on the kids from sniffing markers (thinking the kids would think they could sniff any marker), we all gradually shifted to colored pencils. Since colored pencils didn't come in the fancy crayon colors, no one seemed to see the need to buy them and I became the donor.

You may think that there's no point to this palaver, but there is. It's not what you have so much as it is how you use it. Sure, I didn't get to smell markers or lend out "paradise blue" but I actually drew pictures and that's what mattered at the time.

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