Obama - Shades of Grey : Ian Ruhter Thought Experiment 2 of 4

I believe that life's answers don't come in either black or white. In the ultimate light, you wouldn't be able to see anything, it would be blinding. In pitch black you can't see anything either. By combining the two, we get contrast and depth. In the shadows is where we see the answers to our questions. Photography uses the same values to create an image. You need light and shadows to create contrast. If you think about how a photograph is created, you need whites, blacks, and shades of grey to create a black and white image. If you think of your whites, blacks, and greys as being people, places and things, you create a contrast that will add depth and life to your image. 

Obama coming into office as the first African American president of the United Sates symbolizes a great change in our society. I believe major events like this impact our thought process. To imagine forty/fifty years ago in the 1960's, a event like this would be inconceivable to most of the world. These events influence us as a society and in turn that changes our popular culture. What I'm hoping is that this brings us back to the mood of the 1960's. All of the art and music from that time was reflective of the war, civil rights, and love. When I look at our culture now, it's come down to reality shows and everything using sex to sell; it's empty. As a society, we consume such a mass quantity of mental junk food instead of consuming something that is whole and real. It's like people who are obese. Say we go to fast food restaurants and eat this food that has no nutritional value, and your body keeps screaming that you're hungry because it's not getting what it needs. We keep consuming empty calories trying to fuel our bodies needs, but we never really get there. I think the same goes for our brains. When we keep absorbing all the junk around us hoping that something of substance will come along, but it never does. Are we at a point where we're just endlessly waiting for something of value? I believe that we are, in that for the past three years I've been working on personal projects that have deep value to me. The project, "Enabled", will be released next year. What a fitting time, considering all the mental starvation in the world today. It will be like food for the soul.