Color Blind

Color Blind

i used to assume
if a person
can put 
1 and 1 together
and come to the result
of 2
then the only thing
preventing
a results of 4
from 2 and 2
was laziness
a lackadaisical unwillingness
to apply
the same concepts
ones already known
to the next 
simple stage
of understanding

i'm now
coming to believe
maybe it's not laziness
rather stupidity
a purely physical
limitation
a cognitive deficiency
of the brain
similar
to what affords us
some proficiency
in some
but not all
of math
art
and music

maybe
it was a mistake
assuming
it's been something other
than a limit
of the brain
rather
something else
that needs motivating
to get off the couch
and take a few laps
in order to get
from 1 and 1
to 
2 and 2

maybe i was wrong
cause for some
though they're capable
of doing okay
playing jeopardy from the couch
or performing quite well
in trivial pursuit
nonetheless
there's some limitation
to something like 
a capacity for logic
or critical thinking
that keeps them stuck
on the couch
with straw men
confirmation biases
and false equivalences
that no amount
of motivation
or no revelations
are ever gonna force
or encourage them
to pick
better friends

straw men
biases
and false equivalences
their non-travelling companions
their bedfellows
of known infidelities
always there to justify
apathy
no need for movement
toward 2 and 2
since 
1 and 1
gives a good enough view
and a few 
$2000 answers
in double jeopardy
are good enough
to show yourself
you're already
plenty smart enough
at 1 and 1

see
i always figured
if you could see some color
then you're not 
totally colorblind
but now
i'm understanding
that colorblind
as a physical limitation
is only blindness
to the 
FULL SPECTRUM
especially certain mixtures
of color
so that 1 and 1
is like the blue
you and me and the colorblind can see
while 2 and 2
is within the spectrum
the colorblind
never will

so now i feel bad
imagining
i've been trying
to turn 
some of the
1 plus 1'ers
into something
they can never be
sorta like
a parent
not liking
their child's
music
movies
books
or style
so they deny their child
some essences
of what the child is
trying to force them
into something else
that the parent rationalizes
is for the good of their child
for their well being
out of love
caring and concern
when really
it is the parent's
lazy way
of easing their own fears
by taming the kid
with force
and denial
of what he might
really be

in the same say
i've been an asshole
a tyrant
at times
trying to force them
beyond their understanding
of 1 and 1
by shoving them
onto the court
or into sunday school
or off the couch
when they really
belong on a stage
ripping randy rhodes licks
with long hair and earrings
or they belong
being left alone
to be
what they are now
and always will
be 

i've been an asshole
to people
i've assumed
are just too lazy
in their thinking
to get
to 2 and 2
feeling
it's an affront
to our gifts
and talents
as people
to be so goddamned
lazy
and carefree
as to be so willfully
goddamned
stupid
out of sheer apathy
and unconcern
for being 
anything better

but now i'm ashamed
to consider
it might not be
pure laziness
but something
in the essence of them
that'll never get
to 
4
just as the colorblind
will never see
never understand
red or green
in the same way
as you
and me