YIN YANG AND THE COLORS OF SKIN

How high will the sycamore grow

If you cut it down, then you'll never know
And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
For whether we are white or copper skinned
We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains
We need to paint with all the colors of the wind.

- Colors of the Wind, from Pocahontas

“That,” my Nanay said, pointing to the picture of a circle on the page, “is yin yang.”

I stood on my toes to let my four feet self to take a good look at the image. There it was:
the special circle she was referring to. I looked at it, my eyes fixed on the black and white colors,
swirling together to create a simple yet profound image. I was mesmerized. I could imagine it as
one of the marbles that everyone was dying to get their hands at in school.

“What does it mean, Nanay?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. Beside me, Nanay
pointed at a part of the page again, this time at a certain word.

“Well, you’re already in fourth grade, Nene. Can you read this?”

Eagerly, I let the word roll off my tongue. “Balance,” I said. “It says balance, Nanay.”
My nose scrunched as I thought of poles and pencils hanging on my index finger and the
kingfishers standing on one leg atop a carabao’s back. What did a circle with black and white
colors had to do with balance?

Nanay’s palms found their way on my mop of hair. She ruffled it affectionately, “You’ll
get it someday, Ne.” She promptly returned to her desk where she turned her attention to the
unending stacks of paper in front of her, and one by one, she marked them in red with a stamp
saying, “Approved by the Librarian.”

Later that day, I asked to see the encyclopedia again, opening it to the page where the yin
yang was. I went home talking about the new knowledge I gained while I was hanging out with
Nanay in the library. But despite my fascination with the symbol, I ultimately forgot about it. I
found other things to occupy my time and mind, but it did remain as a vivid memory of my
childhood.
 In sixth grade, my bestfriend, who was to transfer to a different school for her junior high
school, gifted me something. It was yin yang, cut in half. I was the given the dominantly black
one, while she kept the other half.

“Harmony,” she said. “Yin yang means harmony. We cannot be classmates, but you’ll
always be a part of me.”

Once again, I was left in fascination of this insignia, this circle cut equally in half. It was
cut not by a straight line, but a curved one, the halves forming a dewdrop. For me, it was easily
one of the most wondrous things.

I later on saw yin yang everywhere, from books, to movies, to cartoons, to everyday
objects like shirts and other things. My fascination with it heightened when I entered Senior High
School and attended a World Religions class. I used to read up on it However, like my fleeting
first encounter of yin yang, so did my succeeding attempts to ingrain it absolutely in my
consciousness. I felt like it was more of a part of my general knowledge more than a profound
sign that I could apply to myself and give me wisdom.

When my college years started, it was in the University that I saw many different types of
students, in all walks of life—and yes, in every race that there could be in the world.

Among the walls of the school also walked the many colors of the skin. It was also when,
upon pondering, that I have realized the true definition of the yin yang.

Yes, harmony and balance is symbolized by the yin yang. But not only that, it symbolizes
unity in spite of differences—including differences in race and color of skin.

In America, there are numerous cases of racial discrimination that had been going on in
ages. Even in the Philippines, we often lower ourselves when in the presence of other races as if
we owe our very existence to them, because we believe that they are better than us in all ways.

The yin and yang are black and white. We are taught once that these colors cancel each
other out, but in the yin yang, we find that both colors exist side by side. Yin and yang is not
about battling against each other; it is about coexisting. The circular form enclosing the yin and
yang is a reminder that we all share this world. While we have our differences, we live in the
same Earth. Our greed had blinded us, and some of us are still blinded by it. We all have
differences, but likewise, we have something that sets us apart from the rest, whether it may be
experiences or opinions or even the menial things like preferences in favorites. However, like in
the yin yang, we all have this spot within us that is also present in the other. There is no need to
treat each other with hostility or disrespect. The Earth has breathed into us the same air, and to
think of it, we even share our particles with the stars. What makes the other better, when we all
have someone better than us and at the same time, we can do some things better than the other.
 To ask if I have now come to truly understand the yin yang like my Nanay believed I
could that day, I say that I still lack experience of life to declare that absolutely. However, I do
know now, that if the black and white, when put side by side, can create a beautiful, mesmerizing
sign that is the yin yang, the Earth will become a more wonderful place if we learn that together
in harmony, we can create a masterpiece that is unity.