Lately, I’ve been thinking about something a little cruel, but undeniably real— As people get older, the colors they see really do begin to fade.

It’s not that their taste has changed. It’s not that they suddenly prefer “low saturation.” It’s that the hardware receiving color is quietly deteriorating.

But here’s the problem, they usually don’t know it themselves. Because how do you prove that you didn’t see something?

Language doesn’t work.
Descriptions don’t work.
Comparison doesn’t work either.

We say this red is vivid.
They say: it looks red to me too.
We say this blue has layers.
They say: I can see the depth as well.

Everyone is using the same vocabulary, but on completely different displays.

That’s what makes blind spots so ruthless, they never announce their existence. What makes it worse is that even if people around the person vaguely sense that he/she can’t see certain things, there’s still no way to prove it.

We can’t point at someone’s eyes and say, “You’re missing part of the color gamut here.”

All we can see is the outcome.

Ask them to paint a beautiful picture. The colors they choose are simply the ones that look “most beautiful” to them.

If we compare their work from years ago, we might notice the palette has changed fewer layers, weaker contrast. But even then, we can’t say, “You’re older now, so you can’t see it anymore.” Because that would be rude. And deeply unromantic.

People would rather say: “Your style has matured.” “Your taste has settled with time.” “You no longer chase vividness.” All of these sound kind. None of them are lies.

They just perfectly avoid the truth.

And so this is how many things happen: those who CAN'T SEE, end up making decisions that require sight. And those who CAN SEE, don’t know how to speak.

In the end, everyone agrees this is FINE.



—— XC Scribbles · 柒拾伍 LXXV 🎨