Yellow Discus Fish Room

Sometimes a color can remind us of things we don’t care to think of, but maybe, just maybe, it’s reminding us to take a closer look at that concept. Take yellow for example. I can remember going to see the movie Patton starring George C. Scott in the title role of the aggressive World War II general. Scott yells at a soldier who was a coward. My dad loved that movie. Why? I’ve always wondered about that and I think this yellow discus is telling me the answer, finally.

To be yellow, whether in war or in peacetime, is basically to be the scaredy cat, to be the chicken, to not face up to your fears; simply to be afraid. But maybe we shouldn’t be so afraid, maybe we should turn yellow on its fearful head by….thinking of positive yellows…..how about Donovan’s song Mellow Yellow? “They call me mellow yellow…”  Not bad, but what else you got? Bananas are yellow and they provide vital nutrients and vitamins to the human body.  Okay. The Beatles’ song Yellow Submarine….some consider it a nonsense song but one could make the case for other, more positive interpretations.  Yellow is evoked by light and we all know the stories of those who’ve had near death experiences. They say they were moved to go “toward the light.”

So maybe, just maybe, yellow light is good, positive, God-like even. If we are truly heaven bound and are moving toward the light at the moment of our demise, then that could be positive. And those who’ve had this experience always say that they don’t want to come back to earth, to darkness, but they are drawn toward the yellow light. According to surveys taken in Canada and the U.S. people most often associate yellow with cowardice but also with amusement, gentleness, humor, and spontaneity. Yellow discus tells me to go with that and when a fish speaks to me, I listen. 

By Robert Gluck