Color is one of the most beautiful aspects of life that I often neglect to appreciate. It’s a blatant visual blessing that’s easy to ignore amidst the concentration of other factors in life. The effects color has on our subconscious minds is prominent and impactful. Color brightens our lives and is even crucial for the proper development of young children. It’s an indicator of vivaciousness in our communities, adding richness to our being, a gift that connects us to the natural world. Yet when I look out my window as I drive to school each day, aside from the blinding blue sky, trees gnarling around traffic lights, and the occasional cherry red vehicle, I hardly see any color at all. The streets of Abington are a dull symphony of vapid industrialized building blocks. Cars used to radiate with style and beauty; a Partridge Family bus experience our generation missed out on. Now, almost every vehicle falls along the gray scale with the concern of resale value and “timeliness.” Most modern buildings have boring flat straight edges and are intently monotonous and bland in design. Our society collectively shifted focus from thought-provoking beauty to an emphasis on energy-efficient practicality, contributing to the dwindling colors that surround us. This leaves no room to pay homage to the loveliness of nature intertwined with personal creations. The swelling preference for neutral colors drives companies to model their businesses after such indifferent minimalist styles. This trend is much more than just a passing nuisance. Growing research in cognitive science accentuates the mental and physical disadvantages a subdued environment has on people. There is irony within the muted colors in spaces where people are supposed to feel innovative and inspired when this epidemic of modern dullness does the contrary. The good news is that cultural preferences and circumstances are not static, as they bend and transform throughout time. The discussion of cultural dryness and lack of liveliness in increasingly industrialized areas is far from new. As more people notice its impact and grow aware of the bland formation we conform with, the more likely we will sway into a new era that brings rich and meaty colors and styles into our lives; a shift that would humanize our world and allow us to experience an attainable vibrant reality. This could spark individualistic ideas, potentially translating to the enhancement of unique thoughts and creativity. Such changes take time to naturally occur, but on a much smaller scale, I intend to pay heed to the things that make life brighter and strive to remind myself that rejecting the dullness around us is possible and viable. I want to try finding ways to make reality dynamic for myself and those around me, even if that means the simple acknowledgement of beauty that surrounds us.