"Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain... tellin' me what a fool I've been"
Bet you have heard this oldie many a time before, but somehow the lyrics in its entirety whizz you by, you are more enchanted by the catchy tune more than anything else. It's that kind of tune you find yourself unconsciously tapping your foot too and singing along with, without really digesting it's meaning. Anyway, I digress...
This post is simply put it, about rain. Yes, RAIN. That wet, sloppy, slusshy 4 letter word. RAIN.
That's what it is as defined by wikipedia, but somehow I feel encyclopedias tend to take the emotions out of nouns. Rain sounds so trivial, just a "product" of the environment.
Rain is a type of precipitation, a product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that is deposited on the earth's surface.
When I think of rain, a thousand and one little images flood my mind, like an infinite string of thumbnailed images, weaved seamlessly together and blurred at its edges - vivid pictures which depict sadness, happiness, anger, deceit, jealousy, impartiality, content, excitement and yes, the movie, "Rain Man" (ok, so I admit, partially because Tom cruise starred in it)
It's ironic how rain reminds me of tears steaming down from the sky - immense sorrow, yet rain also reminds me of purity, the somewhat purging and cleansing of sins, the totality of forgiveness and the unconditional love and everlasting promise of a Savior.
Rain is a funny thing. It's mother nature's gift to mankind. Have you felt cool raindrops on your skin, falling down in its abundance and tickling your senses? Ever tasted rain? The subtle taste of dirt on your tongue.. Ever smelt rain? That humid air, thickened by moisture, the smell of fresh grass -almost pungent- waft up your nose. Maybe it takes a kind of childishness to transcend the drag of the world today, to go back in time and remember the times when you were young, in those red boots, splashing in the rain, drinking down gulps of pearls from the sky...
Rain somehow also gives hope. Each drop..
Reminding us that as long as we still feel rain on our skin and tears across our faces, that we are still alive... and that all is not lost. There is hope, the sunshine after the rainbow. How beautiful it is, to know that right then and there, you are alive, you have blood coursing through your veins, you are breathing, your heart beating...
As instinctual as the rain is to mother nature, is the act of the "human downpour". It does not recognize cultural and racial boundaries. it cannot be learnt, or unlearnt.
Guess the best thing about rain, really is having the ability to take things easy, to really know that to everything, there are 2 sides, the happy and the sad. That's just life. Without sadness, happiness would also cease to exist.
Maybe we should all just learn to laugh at ourselves a bit more... how much more meaningful would life be...
