New Years Day, 1969, the year man landed on the moon. I turned on the television, waited for it to warm, and saw nothing interesting for a ten-year-old.

Channel three disappointed me, so I turned to my only other option – channel five. There was a parade. My mom stepped into the room. “It’s the Rose Bowl parade. It’s always so pretty.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because all the floats are covered in colored roses.”

For more than an hour we watched the floats pass the viewing stand and were amazed at the beauty the makers created.

Back then, I was thrilled by the floats, but there was something I never thought about..

We watched the Rose Bowl parade on a black-and-white television. We couldn’t see the colors. We just knew they were there.

Even though it was in black-and-white, we still saw the beauty.

I’m a person who looks at the good in life. If things look dark, I look for the color.

I ignore the black and white.

I see the color.

Michael T. Smith