The usual color for walls in Lanzarote is: white. That goes for buildings, and also for the stone fences that are shielding places from the omnipresent wind. What's rather rare, though, are graffitis. The photo above is a desert café with a stunning view. The graffitis, as it looks, are the usual "I've been here" ones.
Later, driving along a street, passing white houses and more white houses, I noticed one that was different. Before I could read the lines, I was beyond it already. So I turned, and drove by again.
I can't really speak Spanish, but the main messages of the lines are about a better society: Fraterna, Igualitaria y Libre - that's the paralle to the core message of the French Revolution: Liberté, égalité, fraternité - Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.
Here's a close-up:
Would be interesting to live in a world where everyone notes his core values on his house, I mused while driving along the ocean road, instead of the rather pointless "XY was here" graffiti. And preferably in each ones favourite color.
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Inspired by the current photofriday theme "White". And again, I also looked for a story that fits the theme, That wasn't too difficult - the story still makes me smile. It was inspired by a flash writing challenge. By the way, the theme ... was neither "white" nor "colors", but "Union of Opposites."
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White
“White,” he says.
“Black,” I answer. Then I correct myself: “Snow.”
He doesn't look up, just keeps filling my answers into little printed boxes.
“Street,” he says.
“Sign,” I answer.
He takes his time.
My mind keeps playing his game while I wait for the next task. House Mouse. Trap Escape. Door Window...
“Now pick a color,” he says.
He places 6 cards in front of me. Blue Yellow Red. Green Orange Violet.
“White,” I say.
He doesn't get the joke. Or maybe it's part of the rules: no humor.
“Pick a color”, he says.
“Orange,” I answer.
He takes the card, takes another note.
We repeat the color game until there is only green left.
“Hope goes last,” I comment. I can't help it.
“They are complementary,” he informs me. “If you add all of them, you arrive at white.”
I hadn't known that. Or maybe I had, a long time ago. I lean back, waiting for the next stupid telling question, but we are done. He hands me a cheque.
On the way home, I buy a box of water colors. I make sure that all six colors are included, blue yellow red, green orange violet. I paint them on a boxless page, one after the other. I try. White, I say. White like light. I try again. Yet the places I arrive at are of a different tune - light, but not white at all.
I like them better.
I like them better.
*
Previous themes + stories
- Tranquil: Boat to Battambang
- Height: Love and Affection
- Eyes; Augenblick, or: A Like
- Street Scenes: City Crossing
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