COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES
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One of the first activities a child engages in as he emerges from toddlerhood to preschooler is picking up a crayon and trying out this thing called “coloring.” It’s a rite of passage for children and has been since crayons were first invented in 1903 by Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith. Natasha Biebow talks all about it in her gorgeous children’s picture book, “THE CRAYON MAN The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons.”
Besides being so darned much fun, we all know the activity of coloring is critical for the development of a child’s fine motor skills, beginning with the rudiments of figuring out how to hold and manipulate a crayon. Simultaneously, learning to move the crayon in the same direction and control its pressure strengthens his dexterity, develops hand-eye coordination, and gets him ready for eventually handling a pencil. He also learns to recognize colors and their variations, which in time leads to an understanding of the color wheel. Along with all of these benefits are the less measurable attributes; coloring improves the ability to concentrate, instills patience, and inspires creativity. Not to mention the tactile pleasure gained from merely handling a crayon with its distinct feel and smell that evokes involuntary memories for most adults.
As children get older, they learn there’s a right way to color and a wrong way. Yes, a wrong way. With the emphasis being tidiness—coloring within the lines—these earnest attempts get more and more serious, quite easily becoming a child’s first competitive sport.
We don’t get much recognition for wandering outside the lines. But we receive lots of attention for conformity. Many of us traverse our childhoods with the goal of staying within the lines, laboring over our creations, striving for perfection at this coloring thing and every similar tangential exercise. This mantra seeps into our lives. Before we know it, most of us begin to live all aspects of our lives like this; those coloring rules send down deep roots and can be difficult to loosen.
But what if we dared to color outside the lines, lived our lives a little less perfectly—not by default, but by intention. That would demand courage, the kind grounded in fervent passion; a calling so deep it can’t be ignored. To not color within the lines requires great self-confidence and a refusal to be unsettled by anyone who is bold enough to point out any straying from the norm. Periodically, we are privileged to witness this kind of “living daringly.”
Photo Credit: J. Howeth
An example of “coloring outside the lines” that I find wildly inspiring is Philippe Petit, the high wire artist, who in 1974, covertly strung a 200-foot steel cable between the roofs of the unfinished World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in Manhattan. 1350 feet above the street pavement, he traversed the 138-foot span eight times.
Already an experienced wire walker, it took Petit six years to plan the escapade, which involved logistics of the most complicated sort. He studied the buildings’ construction via purloined blueprints and ariel photographs and by using a fake construction worker ID to get into the buildings multiple times to see the specifics for himself. He had to figure out how to get 450 pounds of 1-inch cable to the roof of the South Tower, attach it to the roof with the support of cavaletti, and “fling” * it across the expanse to the North Tower, while also attaching the guy wires essential to reduce the cable’s swaying in the wind. It was an arduous endeavor demanding precision, extreme dedication, and secrecy. Petit spoke of his infatuation with the Towers as a “romantic calling”—something he just had to at least attempt.
“Coloring outside the lines?” You bet. Living daringly? Without a doubt.
Petit’s expression of “coloring outside the lines” is extraordinary. I admire him and his fortitude while recognizing that his constitution to withstand extreme anxiety and fear is possessed by one in a million—a bit beyond the average individual. So, for those of us who lean more toward the median, I am not advocating we live lives of recklessness or that we attempt something wildly beyond our skills or experience without first giving the endeavor serious consideration. It would be foolhardy to attempt a Black Diamond run never having skied before. I am suggesting, however, that if we could stretch ourselves just a little bit, color just a little bit beyond the lines, we might find ourselves living more fulfilled and interesting lives. We might hear our own romantic callings and be stirred to express ourselves daringly—on a smaller scale.
*Footnote: I exaggerate. Petit didn’t “fling” the cable across the expanse separating the two towers. He devised an ingenious solution using a bow and arrow.
