Color our world with clarity
As America marks the six-month anniversary of the terrorist attacks, two new symbols of Sept. 11 emerge.
In New York, two elegant columns of light ascend through the dark of night in simulation of the World Trade Center towers.
In Washington, the symbols are a crayon box of colors -- red, orange, yellow, blue and green -- to represent the levels of threat, from high to low, to our "homeland." It is a bewildering palette outlined by security boss Tom Ridge.
As the highest level of danger, red is obvious. But I'm not sure what degree of threat difference there is as orange runs to yellow. And why is green the lowest instead of blue, when blue blended with yellow produces green? More important, these shades of silliness don't define what behavioral changes a citizen should make as the hues mutate.
Ridge surely will forgive me for my preference of the New York emblem. It is clear in its message, ethereal as untinted luminosity may be.
--Cynthia S. Oi