The Giver

..........The Giver told him that it woulfdbe a very long time before he had the colors to keep.

.........."But I want them!" Jonas said angrily. "It isn't fair that nothing has color!"

.........."Not fair?" The Giver looked at Jonas curiously. "Explain what you mean."
.........."Well..." Jonas had to stop and think it through. "If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things! A blue tunic, or a red one?"
..........He looked down at himself, at the colorless fabric of his clothing. "But it's all the same, always."
..........Then he laughed a little. "I know it's not important, what you wear. It doesn't matter. But..."
.........."It's the choosing that's important, isn't it?" The Giver asked him.
..........Jonas nodded. "My little brother..." he began, and then corrected himself. "No, that's inaccurate. He's not my brother, not really. But this newchild that my family takes care of... his name's Gabriel?"
.........."Yes, I know about Gabriel."
.........."Well, he's right at the age where he's learning so much. He grabs toys when we hold them in front of him... my father says he's learning small-muscle control. And he's really cute."
..........The Giver nodded.
.........."But now that I can see colors, at least sometimes, I was just thinking: what if we could hold up things that were bright red, of bright yellow, and he could choose? Instead of the Sameness."
.........."He might make wrong choices."
.........."Oh." Jonas was silent for a minute. "Oh, I see what you mean. It wouldn't matter for a newchild's toy. But later is does matter, doesn't it? We don't dare to let people make choices of their own."
.........."Not safe?" The Giver suggested.
.........."Definitely not safe," Jonas saif with certainty. "What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And chose wrong?
.........."Or what if," he went on, almost laughing at the absurdity, "they chose their own jobs?"
.........."Frightening, isn't it?" The Giver said.
Jonas chuckled. "Very frightening. I can't even imagine it. We really have to protect people from wrong choices."
.........."It's safer."
.........."Yes," Jonas agreed. "Much safer."
..........But when the conversation turned to other things, Jonas was left, still, with a feeling of frustration that he didn't understand.
..........He found that he was often angry, now: irrationally angry at his groupmates, that they were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them.