Purple Power

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field and you don't notice it."  Shug Avery from the Color Purple

I never meant to cause you any sorrow

I never meant to cause you any pain

I only wanted one time to see you laughing

I only want to see you laughing in the purple rain Prince

The color purple is the rarest color in nature. There's something about the way yellow light has to be absorbed to produce purple hues that is beyond natural abilities. There are very few naturally purple flowers, birds, or fish. Most of what we see in nature is greens, blue, brown, red, yellow, and the occasional orange.

This natural fluke has translated it into humanity, even though by now we are capable of creating millions of colors in different hues. Once upon a time, only the richest of the rich could have purple garments as there were just a few expensive ways to produce purple dyes. So purple became the exclusive property of royalty. Eventually the church took it on to symbolize spiritual purity.

It was only by the mid-19th century that purple dyes were invented that were accessible to more common fashions, but for some reason purple has never quite caught on. Why are there no purple cars? Houses? Flags? Looking at any clothing store, you will find very few garments that are solid purple- shirts, pants, hats, shoes, socks, or even underwear. Why is this?

I think over the centuries we've gotten used to the same neutral colors and may have discouraged those who wear purple in public. It definitely attracts attention. Maybe you will notice a splash of purple here or there, but not enough to cause a stir. Especially in the business world, conformity is valued over fashion choices. For men especially, part of the taboo is that for whatever reason purple has been associated with homosexuality. (Tell that to the soldiers who earned a purple heart or the Minnesota Vikings football team.)

Purple is one of the few colors that can't be detected on a rainbow or in the light spectrum. Violet can, but purple and violet are different hues, though they're often assumed to be the same color. Violet is at the visible end of the light spectrum and appears more as blue than purple does. Purple can only be made by combining blue and red together.

I noticed when buying a car earlier this year how limited the choices of colors are for cars. White, gray, blue and black seem to be the predominant colors of the automotive world, and I felt like an oddball for preferring my green Corolla. But purple? Forget it.

Purple is an unusual, beautiful color. I can see why Alice Walker named her famous book after it because even God would not want you to ignore it. I wish there were more choices for purple things, but then I guess it wouldn't be special anymore, would it? It's just another one of those things out there that can give us joy- so appreciate it when you can.