Wondering If I'm Wrong

For years, my husband and I have debated the color of things. He insists our couch is green, while to me it’s obviously a warm chocolate brown. Sometimes he’ll comment on the pretty orange blouse I’m wearing, and I look at him as if he’s got two heads. It’s maroon, of course. I’ve always chalked it up to his being a man, assuming he just didn’t know any better. But now I’m not so sure.

Unless you’re living under a rock, which admittedly, I sometimes am, you’ve probably already decided whether you’re part of the white-gold camp or the blue-black one. To me, the dress is absolutely white and gold, though I can see how it looks blue when the light is dim. But everything I’m reading tells me I’m wrong. That my retinas are less high functioning than those who see it as black and blue or that my eyes aren’t picking up the right pixels or something like that (science is not my strong suit). The problem is, if they’re right but I’m so sure that it’s white, I have to question what else I’m seeing incorrectly. As someone who’s always been called stubborn and taken it as a compliment…because it’s okay to be stubborn if you’re right, isn’t it?…this is a little disconcerting.

Is it just about perspective? Do I see what I want to see, the way I want to see it and even though I can understand that there’s another point of view, I won’t change my opinion? I can make too many leaps here, generalizing this to the way we form opinions about people based on first impressions, how we form political beliefs, the list goes on and on. But hey, we’re not talking about world peace here. This is just a dress, after all.

Or is it?

Right now, I have more pressing matters to deal with. I need to figure out if I’ve been wearing orange for years without realizing it, while sitting on my very green couch.