to a quote by Herman Melville on one of the sites I read all the time. It isn’t a particularly well-phrased statement. It isn’t even interesting. I like many of the quotes the author uses, but this one falls far short of praiseworthy.

However, it hits on a topic that is important in my life just now.

“Where does the violet tint end and the orange tint begin? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the first blending enter into the other. [sic] So with sanity and insanity.” ….Herman Melville.

Let me tell you, that the violet tint isn’t ending when the woman tells her husband he burned to death in a car crash just yesterday- while he is standing in her room speaking with her.

It doesn’t end when she calls her daughter and says they are broken down on the side of the road and need money and then disowns her when she doesn’t send money, when they are really in an RV park and have in cash as much as the daughter’s entire assets.

The violet tint doesn’t end when she throws her wedding rings in her husband’s face as she bites him, because he won’t give her half their worldly goods so that she can spend them that day.

The violet tint isn’t changing color when the woman curses at six police officers sent out in response to a neighbor’s call on domestic violence.

The violet tint does not fade to orange when the woman talks 20 hours a day and is only silent under sedation.

The violet tint is nowhere near orange right now in my mother. Sanity seems far away.