Feeling Blue?

The color blue is such a lovely color. In fact, it is the favorite color of many people I know. Today, the blue jeans is almost the uniform of most people in many parts of the world!

Simply look around the streets and malls; you'll find that most men, women, and children are wearing blue jeans. 

So how come people say, "I am feeling blue" when they are sad or unwell? Nobody knows for sure how this idiom or expression came about. But there are several tales on how it started.

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One, dark blue is so close to black on the color scale, and since black is often linked to fear and darkness, blue got categorized in the same group.

Two, the deep sea is called "deep blue sea" and therefore feeling deeply is compared to feeling sad.

Three, blue was related to rain, or storms, and in Greek mythology (you might have taken this up in school), the god Zeus would make rain when he was sad, and a storm when he was angry.

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Blue has also evolved into a word with so many meanings. This is all the list I can manage to make. Can you add more?

•The blue in our flag - peace

• Blue Blood - aristocracy or royalty

• Blue Moon - something that happens rarely, as in "once in a blue moon"

• The Boys in Blue - police

• Singing the blues - to complain

• Scream blue murder - to shout or to complain very loudly

• Black and Blue - to describe someone whose body is covered with bruises

• Blue Collar - someone who is employed doing physical work

• Out of the blue - something unexpected suddenly happens

• True-blue - an adjective describing someone or something as a total part of one thing 

• Baby blues - a feeling of sadness that some moms experience after they have given birth to a baby

• Blue baby - an infant who dies at birth

• Between the devil and the deep blue sea - choosing between two equally unpleasant situations

• The Blues - a musical style

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But in truth, blue is a color that represents so many amazing things. When I was small, I thought that God's favorite color might have been blue. Why?

Many of His creation are blue. Look up to as far as you could see (sky). Then look down and imagine the lowest part (ocean) of this great planet on which we live. At both ends, you see blue!

There are also hundreds of beautiful flowers and animals that are colored blue. The blue snake, blue star, blue macaw, blue crabs, blue fishes, blue beetle, blue frog, Maltese tiger, and many more are so awesome they take your breath away.

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When we refer to the color blue, we also refer to its many shades: azure, baby blue, beryl, cerulean, cobalt, cornflower blue, corporate blue, cyan, indigo, midnight blue, navy, Prussian blue, robin's egg blue, royal, sapphire, sky blue, slate, and steel blue.

You may add to this awesome long list. 

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Next time someone tells you, "I am feeling blue," tell him/her all about the great blue things that fill our world-gifts from our Creator. Then he/she won't feel blue anymore!

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