When I was about 4 years old my mother began teaching me everything I would need to know for my upcoming year of kindergarten. She was a teacher herself, so naturally she wanted me to be ahead of the curve. She would use cute games to teach me math where she would put apple slices in front of me then give some or take some away, and afterwards I would get to read out loud to her whatever book I wanted. (Spoiler: I always picked Curious George.) But, no matter how hard she tried, I could never seem to get colors right. To motivate me, she would spread a huge packet of M&M’s out on the table until you could barely see the wood underneath. If I wanted to eat any M&M’s I would have to pick out all the ones of whatever color she said.

“Okay, I want you to find me all the green ones!”

My little fingers would scurry about in the huge pile, but when I finished my task the candy I had in front of me, which was supposed to be green, would end up being a weird combination of green, brown, and occasionally red. My mom would get frustrated and I would usually cry, cause heck, I just wanted to eat some candy and since I couldn’t get it right I almost never got any. Well, about a year later I ended up at an optometrist, and he told me I was color blind. After that, my mother bought me a much deserved pack of M&M’s.

Now to get rid of a common misconception, THIS DOES NOT MEAN I SEE IN BLACK IN WHITE. Whenever, I tell people that I am color blind, at least 50% of the time that is their first question. The other 50% is a game called “Let's ask you about what color every single item in the room is.” While I understand, that being color blind is not “common”, doesn't mean you have to make my life a game show which I am bound to lose at.

However, I’m not writing this article to tell my life story, I am writing it in response to a video which went viral recently. In it a color blind man is given glasses from a company called Enchroma which “correct” his vision and allow him to see the broader spectrum of colors for the first time.

While even I will admit it's pleasant to watch this man's whimsical response to seeing purple for the first time, I found myself becoming increasingly upset after having watched the reactions to the video, or reading the comments:

“Wow I didn’t realize how much I take for granted."

“He misses out on so much of life."

“That’s probably so depressing when he takes off those glasses.”

Reading these, I couldn’t help but think, wait…that’s the way I see the world, I’m that depressing view. Until that point in my life, I had never really thought of myself as missing out on something, that was just the way I see, that’s the way I’m always gonna see. Is my view of the world really that sad that people had to give me “pity”?

Each morning I wake up with a gnawing worry in the back of my mind that my clothes aren’t going to match, or that I’ll eat a green unripe banana by mistake, or a million other minute details which, until I saw the reactions in that video, I didn’t think were “pitiful.” I had to think about that for a long time because frankly I wasn’t sure what to do. I had these random people basically telling me that the way I see is less than theirs. Later, even my friends were asking me when I was going to get a pair of those glasses.

Honestly, even with all the criticism, I still don’t think I want them. I love the way I see the world. So what if I can’t see what purple is or I can’t always tell the difference between green and brown? Just because 90% of the world sees a certain way, doesn’t make it any better than mine. I am proud to be color blind, and I don’t need a pair of glasses to show me the way I should be seeing. The way I see is just as beautiful as everyone else's, and even if some think that way is “more depressing," I’ll just keep on happily living in my brown grass and magenta sky-filled world.