We see Earth now as this huge floating rock of blue, with areas of green and brown that indicate the magnificent land we stand above. If we were to zoom in on the Earth today, we would be hit with the overwhelming amount of colors we see in an instant. We wouldn’t just see the standard yellow that is shown on a school bus or the standard red we would find in a pack of fresh strawberries; instead, we would see the different hues and combinations of those colors when we see the sky as the sun goes down, or the types of clothing appear when we walk into a mall. 

Unfortunately, we were not always able to see color on Earth like we are now. Far away from Earth was an obnoxiously, neon-bright planet called Color. The ground was neon orange, while the sky was pretty pink. Every person lived in a house that was as yellow as the sun and went to work in a tall and narrow building that was painted a type of purple that looked like an artificial grape flavor. A painter lived on planet Color, and despite his occupation, hated the world he lived in. The painter would have multiple migraines a day looking at the neon environment in front of him, and was displeased with its color scheme; nothing matched or appeared pretty. His friends advised the painter to leave the neon-induced planet, stating that the world he lives in is not good for the painter’s health, and relocate permanently. Just like that, he hopped on his rocket ship, only bringing his art supplies, and headed towards Earth.

Upon the painter’s arrival on Earth, he quickly realized that the world he was in was gloomy and confusing; the environment was shrouded in blacks, whites, and grays, and it was difficult to distinguish certain things (whose toothbrush is whose, to whom does that shirt belong to, etc.). This didn’t necessarily bother the painter until he approached a four-way intersection controlled by traffic lights when he was unsure if it was his turn to go. This also seemed like an inconvenience to the other drivers as they were hesitant to drive, while others raced through the intersection recklessly. Accidents were bound to happen, and the painter wanted to prevent these kinds of situations.

The painter went to his hotel that night and grabbed all of the art supplies that he brought from Planet Color: crayons, paint buckets, pencils, paintbrushes, and markers. He filled the paint buckets with water from the sink and added cups of flour to make a thick consistency. Then, he started melting neon red, yellow, and green markers and crayons into the buckets, allowing the water to soak up each pigment. The next morning, he carried those paint buckets to that same intersection with the traffic lights, grabbed his paint brush, and painted the top light neon red, the middle light neon yellow, and the bottom light neon green.

The painter’s action improved the flow of traffic and reduced the amount of accidents. Pleased with himself, he started venturing out onto other items: cars, houses, furniture, clothing, etc. Since he didn’t want everything to be neon or a bright hue, the painter would make his creations darker or lighter by sprinkling in the pigments of crayons perceived as grayscale on Earth. 

The painter sold these buckets of paint to the citizens on Earth called “The Painter’s Choice” and labeled each paint can with the specific name that the painter associated with that color (for example, the painter would create a light blue and call it “sky blue” because that’s what he pictured the sky to be on a lovely day). The painter encouraged every human being to start painting their cars, houses, and other personal belongings to resemble their true colors and distinguish their belongings from one another. Every shade of Color was painted on every inch of the Earth and is the reason why we, the people on Earth, can see all the colors imaginable on everything that lies around us.