Remember a few days ago I said I have this bad habit of writing when I am in class? Well, you are in luck because last night's class was pretty sub-par. Thus, for your reading pleasure, I present The Ring.
I have this little ring that I got for free two weeks ago. It's quite an unusual ring as it is not made of silver or gold or even any kind of metal. It's actually made of glass. Unconventional, right? I love it though. It doesn't seem like glass because it is light-weight and feels like plastic- not glass.
You see? the ring is not what it appears to be and it kind of reminds me of me. Well, of people in gnenral, I suppose. Allow me to describe it to you:
I wear a ring size 7 1/2 or 8 (...not really sure, but I am assuming) and this little glass ring fits perfectly on my ring finger. I wear it on my right hand because it is comfortable enough so that it does not obtrude my writing. It is incredibly smooth; unnaturally so. It has this mysterious properity where it changes in appearnce due to the way you look at it. You know that waxy look that a red crayon leaves on a white page? Yeah, well that's the colour of the inside of my ring. The outside is transparent; it is glass, after all. There are 12 lines of vertical colour. They are arranged in an A. B. C. pattern of repetition. Three colours four times over. Even though the colours go all the way in a circle around the ring, there is a definite start to the verticle lines. There is a gap between the white of the start and the green of the end. It continues, though, first white, then yellow, then green. It repeats. White. Yellow. Green.
The words "yellow" and "green" are fairly ambigious so allow me to elaborate.
The yellow is *almost* like the shade of a dandelion, but there is this element of "mac and cheese" that also nods at this yellow. So I suppose you could call it a "sunkissed orange". Yeah, I like that.
Now the green: Oh what an interesting colour, green. My sister's eyes are a beautiful, smokey green, but this green in my ring is completely different. Its a combination of a "spring green" and an "emerald green". Its lovely, actually, and reminds me of one of my favourite teas- Refresh Tea from the Tazo brand of tea.
Oh and the white, you ask? Well, it's what you would expect to see as the colour of heavy whipping cream. Very pure white, Not like a cloud, though.
You may be thinking, "Kate, it's a ring. What's the big deal?" Here's my "bid deal."
When you take the ring off, it's still a ring. In fact, it doesn't seem like it would change at all, but it does- ever so slightly. Remember I said the ring has this red inside, but a glass outside? Well, return to that mental picture. Got it? Ok, good. So when you take the ring off and tilt it on its side, you can see only the glass part and the red completely disappears. It's amazing because if I were to ask you when the ring was on its side "what colour is this ring?" you would answer "It doesnt have a colour; it's transparent glass." In this statement, you would be correct.
Isn't that so like us as humans? We see people only one way. Do you really know the many facets of that person you think you know so well? Do you only see the clear part of them? The allusive part of them that they allow others to easily see while hiding the most interesting parts of themselves?
I have two sisters whom I love dearly and equally. In fact, you might even say that they are part of the fibers that make me a whole and complex
Beyond my sisters, there are many areas of my life that I never, ever expose to anyone. I feel like it makes life interesting and it makes me feel like I have something to talk to the Lord about that I cannot/ will not tell anyone else.
Back to the ring.
When I slip the ring on my finger, the red and the stripes are so domineering that you would be nuts to say that the ring is colourless and made only from glass.
The truth is, I dont really know of what the glass is made from. Glass, I know (only bgecause the place where I got the ring was a special artists' jelwlry shop that creates glass articles), but what else? Paint? Stain? Food colouring die? (ok, that's taking it a bit too far, but ...you never know these days...).
My point in all this is to not assume that you know people on the surface level. You don't. Even if you think you know me deeply and intimately, you might be surprised to learn new things about me. You may know me very well and may love me, but can we really even know ourselves?
My freshman year of college my quest was to find myself and to answer this question: "can we really know ourselves?"
My conclusion? No, we cannot. Only God knows who we are. *We* might be surprised to find things about ourselves we didn't even know were a part of us when we are placed in new locations, new relationships, new living situations, etc.
Don't judge. Only God knows all aspects of any one person.
Oh, and go find yourself a little glass ring.
=)
("Single Ladies" video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY
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