Shades of Gray

What’s with the title?

Titles are important to me because first impressions hold a lot of weight. A good title has layers of meaning, and while I’m not claiming this one is superbly meaningful, it’s not pointless either.

I constantly laugh at how my younger self was so sure her understanding of the world was the right one. It seemed so simple to me, almost instinctual at the time, that everything could fit inside the pretty worldview I’d painted for myself. God, was it beautiful - full of hope and compassion and the utter conviction that if I knew what was right and what was wrong. Black and White.

But now, just a few short years later, I’m confused about everything, sure about nothing, the least of all my own convictions. Not to say that I have no belief system – there are things that I both value and believe to hold some grain of truth. Nor am I saying that Truth is relative. I’m simply much more willing to admit my own fallability, and more able to appreciate the limitations of culture, language, and personal bias. We can try to interpret our life experiences and use logic to come to sound conclusions. But the closest we’re probably going to come to understand the real Truth (and communicating it to others) is just a shadow of the real thing.  

So, the inspiration for the title of this blog (and most of the thoughts it contains) is this simple proclamation:

Truth exists. There is a black and a white, an ultimate Good and its counterpoint, Evil. It’s out there somewhere.

But life occurs in shades of gray.

And for me, for now, that’s enough.