At first I thought that everybody was just trolling. Pranksters on the internet were pulling a practical joke on the masses. I mean, look at the dress in the middle. Isn’t it obvious what color it is?
Of course it was white and gold (above left). Yet, others insisted it was blue and black (above right). How could they be serious? Those colors can’t be any different.
But Diana Aydin saw it as blue and black. And Rick Hamlin too. They were both shocked that I saw white and gold. Were they conspiring against me?
I kept looking. I squinted a little. I leaned back. And crazily enough– I started to see it as blue and black too. And not just a subtle difference–it was a very deep blue and black.
Had I lost my mind? Had I been harangued into believing 2 + 2 = 5? Strangely, just as I was coming around to believing, Diana changed her tune–she now agreed it was white and gold.
The whole internet is going nuts about this right now. Ever since a young woman posted the photo on Tumblr, debate has been raging. It’s a real crazy-maker.
For the record, despite my initial convictions, the actual dress, worn to a wedding in Scotland, is blue and black. A post on Wired explains why it’s so hard to tell. It has to do with the sensitivity of our retinas to light and dark colors.
I was so sure about what I saw. I couldn’t understand how anyone could see anything different. But I was wrong. Even though, looking at the picture now, it looks white and gold again.
It’s an important reminder. As certain we are of a truth, there always exists another view, another way of interpreting the same thing. Sometimes the truth only reveals itself to certain eyes.
The dress is blue and black, that’s an incontrovertible fact. But it takes many people multiple looks to even admit the possibility. Even then, they remain uncertain.
It’s something I always try to keep in mind when we select and edit these Mysterious Ways stories. Undoubtedly, these stories will provoke a lot of questions, and diverse explanations. Our job is to show you the picture. What you see–that will depend on you.
Has a Mysterious Ways story changed your beliefs, or strengthened them? What story would you send to a more skeptical friend?
Let us know which of our stories might spark as much spirited debate as this dress!
