


A plant in bloom will have flowers that face towards the golden warmth of the sun as it seeks light for further growth. The bright golden warmth of the sun allows the plant to make food for itself through photosynthesis. As nightfall comes the vibrant colors of blue, yellow, red petals of the flower slowly wither and curl up as the dark blue of a cool night sets in.  When the seasons change into fall the flowers begin to turn into faded colors of their former glory.  As the weather begins to get colder and colder the petals fall off and start turning darker brown and eventually turn into black and slimy shapeless forms on the ground they wait patiently to be reused as nutrients for some other plants life cycle come spring.

At the beginning of Metallica’s One video the first scene is of three surgically masks physicians starring down onto a terribly wounded soldier laying on a very sterile hospital bed.  The lighting is a soft, hazy black and white, possibly showing the life that is slowly draining from this soldier.   The physicians are clothed in matching white medical garments.  The garments are not marked by crimson which would make a person assume they took a vested interest in saving this soldiers life but instead the whiteness reflects the indifference they have to this soldier who, as far as they are concerned is more alive than dead.  As the video continues, illumination of color is slowly added to the scene as it transitions to the reflections of the soldier as he is seen as a whole man, full of life.  There are hues of pink and red as he remembers his love he left as he boarded a train for destined for war in a foreign country.  As his reminiscences are broken by the harsh reality of his situation the faded color begins to transition back to a wispy black and white.  There are brief fades to complete cold, blackness that give the viewer a brief idea of what it is like to be trapped in a body.  A body without legs, arms, feeling, smell, eyesight or hearing.  As the doctors are looking down at him wondering how long it will take him to die you can feel the coldness creeping in as they discuss this soldier’s slim future.  The soldier understands his situation.  In the scene only the top of his head is uncovered showing an undamaged scalp.  As the rest of the scene is cold and dark representing lack of life his head has a faded, reddish hue as he starts to hold his breath trying to use the only method available to him, suffocation.  After multiple failed attempts the color on top of his head once again fades to a soft black and white as hopelessness takes over his soul once again.  As the doctors look at him the black and white represents their inability to see him or help him.  Every time that the EKG machine hooked up to monitor his heart, has a spike in heart rate, the doctors accept that this is the body fighting for life but in reality it is the soldier trying to end his life.  Once again the color on top of the soldiers head starts to turn reddish.  The color signifying the will of this soldier and that there is something else yet to try to end his life.  As the soldiers head begins to spasm up and down in a rhythmic beat the doctors once again assume it is the body continuing to die.  In reality the soldier is using the only means of communication left to him, morse code.  The top of the soldier’s head is continuing its reddish hue as he bangs his head repeatedly over and over.  Finally as an act of mercy and compassion, a visiting soldier understands what the wounded soldier is communicating.  As the visitor’s revelation is revealed to the doctors, there is a slight increase of color to the doctors who are staring down at him. Finally recognizing that there is life and not just seizures of a body dying.  The morse code the soldier has been communicating is two words, Kill Me.

     Everything in nature starts out with faded colors that represent life and as life grows the colors grow more vibrant. The bright green leaves of a tree, the bright red flowers of a blooming plant.  There is color in all things that are alive.   But as we begin to die our colors begin to fade.  The vibrant green colors of leaves slowly start to turn brown and fall to the earth.  Our hair, once jet black or sunny blonde slowly begin to turn gray.  Our skin starts to ashen and wrinkle, the pink tinges of life slow begin to fade.  Our future, like a gloomy day when it is raining, is what we have left of our once active lifestyles.  As the body dies it is interned into the ground to decompose.  As the body breaks down it returns to its original matter of moistness and black matter.  Slowly, overtime absorbed into the soil to be returned to life as a plant or tree.