True Colors: Green for Energy Conservation

Lalit A Patel

Trying to understand the human personality and relating it to planets or colors is a fascinating and useful activity. Lowry’s TrueColor personality color system (Lowry) has become very popular and has gained wider acceptance than its alternatives such as Dewey’s (Dewey). Lowry’s system classifies a person into blue, green, gold, and orange. A spontaneous test during our English Composition class on 21 August 2003 has prompted me to understand me in terms of Lowry’s TrueColor personality color system and also to check the validity of this system. This test has shown me in the green color category. A thorough cross-comparison of traits might imply that Lowry’s system is good enough to present a foggy portrait of a person but not accurate enough to display a clear picture of the person. The following narration highlights a few of my green-color traits without going through a trait-by-trait check.

As stated in the list of personal attributes and values (Shreve 1) of a green color person, I am an idea generating person. Ever since my childhood, ideas keep popping into my head like mushrooms in a moist land. As a child, when I read that an iron rod rotating in a magnetic field produces electricity, a great idea hit my brain and I thought of making a perpetual dynamo that can keep generating electricity after its initial one-time rotation by consuming a fraction of the generated electricity. My subsequent physics education explained me the fallacy of my idea. After failing in this and a few other ideas, my idea generating green brain has become wiser and cautious. Most of the ideas I now generate are scientifically provable and not mere science fiction. Soon after beginning the calculus coursework, I thought of fractional derivatives, and then I developed the idea further. A few mathematicians I talked to laughed at my idea. Upon a casual suggestion by another mathematician, I rushed to a library, where I happened to find that the subject of fractional derivatives is more than a century old and is widely used in the fuzzy logic. Though thinking and idea generating is my strength, it is not without some associated weaknesses. Playing with ideas has often prevented me from paying adequate attention to my prescribed class-works.

My other weakness, of the green color type (Shreve 2), is my lack of ability to convince people. Most people underestimate or misunderstand my ideas and tend to perceive me as an argumentative person. Very often, this perception of others leads to head-on collisions. When my ideas allow me to see a danger that others cannot see, I warn others of the danger, but then I get mislabeled as an argumentative or offending person. After facing the danger and using the route suggested by me, some of the forewarned persons apologize and praise me. At a company I worked at, I offended a founder of the company with my advice to stop the use of blue LEDs on a board. Later on, when they understood the logic and benefits of my advice, they rewarded me.

The dominating analytical left brain makes me an individual researcher in my learning environment (Shreve 3). Instead of relying on a prescribed textbook for a coursework, I tend to libraries and other sources of information to get more information. For example, I read Dirac and several other books to satisfy my fascination for Quantum Mechanics. As a result of research aptitude, I could not score well in my examinations, but could do quite well in my research work.

Like other greens, I am a curious student (Shreve 4. My curiosities to know things in and out generally bother me. At times, I am more curious than expected or permitted by my coursework. Immediately after catching a new concept or idea, I start sailing in the ocean of questions with my little ship of brain. Passing through many oceanic storms, I try my best to reach a land of answers. When I reach a shore, I am joyous beyond words. To satisfy my curiosities every now and then, I have explored many disciplines, including anthropology. I have always been curious to know how things work. I wished I had the “How Things Work” book (Bloomfield) from the beginning. My addiction to curiosities keeps me busy, makes me a great explorer, and often ruins my regular routine.

Irrespective of whether Lowry’s TrueColor personality color system is hundred percent correct or not, it is beneficial to go through the list of numerous traits listed under the four colors and try to assess the self. An objective understanding of the self can help the person in facing the constraints and obstacles in life, and in selecting a career path conducive to growth and happiness. The color test and its after-math can help the person in preparing a roadmap of life. My green color personality makes me a researcher, and having realized that, I am seeking a research-oriented career path.

Work Cited

Bloomfield, Louis A. “How Things Work”. John Wiley & Sons, 2001.

Dewey. Dewey Color System. 1 December 2003. 1 December 2003. <http://www.ivillage.com/dewey/about.html>. “Instead of relying on lengthy, imprecise questionnaires, the Dewey Color System® uses a simple, highly accurate system based on your color preferences to reveal who you are, not who you believe yourself to be. The Dewey Color System® is the first to recognize the connection between personality and the four distinct color categories: Primary Colors, Secondary Colors, Achromatic Colors, and Intermediate Colors.”

Lowry. Lowry Color System. 1 December 2003. 1 December 2003. <http://www.true-colors.com>. “Don Lowry created the metaphor, True Colors™, to translate complicated personality and learning theory into practical information we can all understand and use. He has developed an easy and entertaining way to understand ourselves and others. Keys To Personal Success is a series of courses and products teaching and applying the concepts presented in the True Colors™ metaphor.”

Shreve, Penny. “Handout by Professor Penny Shreve in the English Composition class on 21 August 2003”.