By its association with blood, red is the colour of life. Paradoxically, red is also the colour of death because we rarely see blood except when it has been spilled.
In a roundabout way, red is also the colour of equality. We learn this from one of Shakespeare’s most marginalized characters. Shylock cries out: “If you prick us, do we not bleed?” Pierce the skin and what you find underneath is remarkably democratic.
Red has the longest wavelength of any colour on the visible spectrum (620-750 nm) which means, ironically, that it has the lowest level of energy. I say “ironically” because, when we set aside our scientific bias and examine matters from the more useful perspective of human emotions, we find that red is associated with high-energy feelings, like anger and passion. If we want to provoke a bull, we wave a red cape. If we want to evoke sexual passion, we put a woman in a red dress and call her Carmen. Bizet’s opera would have been considerably different if he had called it Violet; it would have been the story of a depressed banker.
Red is also the colour which appears on the flag of the country I call home. This is not so surprising given that Canada is one of the most sanguine countries in the world (as least by reputation). My use of the word “sanguine” is deliberate. According to medieval medicine, a person whose humour is dominated by blood (sanguinity) is cheerful and happy (like a good Canadian). And that happiness extends to happiness in bed too. Sexual passion.
I’m not sure how passionate a person has to be to stand around in a maple leaf suit trying to persuade people to use a tax preparation service. I’m guessing not much. Unless the pay is really good.
