Stop...but only if YOU want to...

I still get a chuckle out of the fact that teachers have been encouraged to use purple ink (or whatever color it was), rather than red, to correct students' work. The theory was that there was a negative association with red...that it may invoke some self-esteem issues. What...the mark saying you were incorrect ISN'T hurtful in and of itself? Maybe that negative association is with your sloppy work, Junior.

Whether our associations with color and emotion are chicken-and-egg like, or hard-wired at birth, I worry for the kids that are protected from life in these ways...how can you grow up to be prepared, damaged adults without some good, old-fashioned childhood trauma?

There may be something to the angering properties of red, though. I can't help but notice my blood pressure rise when I see acres of brake lights in my way on my drive home. Maybe we need a change. Maybe the red lights are the true culprits of the ever-growing road rage epidemic. Maybe a blissful blanket of blue beacons would soothe the work-weary soul on the evening commute. That, or just staying home.