Looking up at the sky is one of my favorite things. There are so many questions to ask about what is there – up there? How far is the sky? Is it just what is within the earth’s atmosphere – does it ascend into the galaxy? Does it travel further?
I start with the premise that the sky is there, what ever its height, width and depth. My life does not depend on having specific measurements for that which is always there. My question does revolve around some other characteristics – what is the sky’s color? When I color the inside walls of my home tan, the walls are tan in the morning, afternoon, night and whenever I look. When I put on a blue shirt, the shirt retains its color no matter what color jacket, tie, sweater coordinates with the button down 17/35 (in case you want to send me a gift).
How many things change color? The cooking world has lots of examples. I can change ingredient colors when I bake a cake or grill a steak or add cheese to the macaroni. Without my doing anything, the sky above has color variations that just boggle my imagination. The sky can be red, orange, white, gray, black and yes, even blue. But there is not just a single blue – there is steel blue, slate blue, gray blue, light blue, bright blue, dark blue and indigo.
Perhaps the sky does not change color but only my ground level view of what is far away. There are scientists that will be happy to describe the technical details of how these colors are a reflection of many ingredients. I accept their knowledge and explanation. For me, however, the color change goes way beyond science facts.
The color of the sky sets the tone and mood for the day. Leaving the black of night, the brightness of the rising sun illuminates the morning. The options for sky colors are many. It has long been said – “Red skies in the morning, sailors take warning, red skies at night sailor’s delight.” The red morning skies give rise to clouds which give way to gray. And when skies are gray, the mood expects cool days, precipitation and not much happening. It is not a good day to look up.
Colors mix up my world. The sky is one of my trend setters as the day’s colors help to guide where I look – up or down. It is always better to look up, as the sky for good and for bad, the sky colors my day. What color is your day?
Richard Oppenheim helps individuals and companies get better. His effort is to deliver short term actions that will serve as the foundation for achieving long term goals, such as getting unstuck. He maps what is desired with what can be accomplished and then help create a personal road map for going forward.
As a CPA, Richard was an early innovator of computer based resources. Over the years, his efforts have integrated lots of business processes, personal actions, technology resources and decision making. He has developed computer based professional education courses and co-founded a company providing on-line education courses covering the areas of security, management and control over IT operations.
As an adjunct professor at NYU’s Graduate School of Business, Richard served as a Director with NYU’s Management Decision Laboratory. He graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and did post-graduate work at New York University.
His writing includes books, magazine columns, computer product reviews, feature articles, trade association pamphlets, book editing and ghostwriting.
His journey continues as he endeavors to guide and illuminate the path that others need to take.
