HEART & SOUL
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RAINY DAYS CAN BE GOOD DAYS
by Leslie Karen Lobell, M.A.
I grew up hearing Karen Carpenter sing, "Hangin' around, nothing to do but frown. Rainy days and Mondays always get me down." Later, Tina Turner would sing, "I can't stand the rain." When people would speak of "saving for a rainy day," it was clear that they considered a "rainy day" to be a time of bad luck or struggle. All in all, when I was growing up, rainy days got a bad rap. Sunshine was good, rain was bad, and that was that! I pretty much believed it, too. I usually felt blue on a rainy day. As a child, I generally felt disappointed that the rain meant I could not go outside to play. As a young adult, I realized that a number of days without sunshine seemed to have a negative effect on my mood. So, for the most part, I agreed with the messages my culture gave me: that rainy days were bad days.
However, once in a while, a different message would come into my consciousness. As a child, I was fascinated with "Indians" (this was before it became politically correct to call them "Native Americans"). The Native Americans would perform rain dances. To them, rain was desirable, because they needed it to make the crops grow. That made sense to me. … A few classic movie scenes left me with positive associations to the word "rain": There was Paul Newman, in a lighter moment from the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," smiling and laughing while riding a bicycle to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head." Then, of course, there was the famous "Singin' in the Rain" scene performed by Gene Kelly. There was Gene, dancing and singing in the rain, and having a glorious time. So, once in a while, when the right mood would strike, I would sing in the rain, too. … Then my travels took me to new places. I lived on an island in Greece during a summer: a time when this island did not get a lot of rain. There, it was not taken for granted that water would come out of a tap whenever you turned it on. When I had to bathe more often from a sink rather than a bathtub, I learned that water was a precious commodity. Water was scarce, too, when I visited Berkeley, California during a drought. Suddenly, rain began to take on new meanings…
I was back living on the East Coast of the United States from 1988 through 1999. I remained conscious of conservation, but for the most part, it was easy to take water more-or-less for granted… and easy to get sucked back into the negative associations with rain. Grey clouds and rain would bring on the blues. I wanted sunshine. Then, in the year 2000, I moved to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands. I got my sunshine: so much of it, in fact, that after a while, I started longing for some rain. When I realized that I had memorized the number to call for a truck to bring water to the house - and, of course, I was paying by the truckload -- I started finding myself wishing, even praying, for rain. A big rain would help water the lawn and fill the cistern. I began to welcome the sight of dark clouds. These days, rainy days are good days.
Rain, of course, in and of itself is not "good" or "bad." Rain just is. The same can be said for the sun. It is neither good nor bad. It just is. The sun is the sun. Too much sun can scorch the Earth or our skin; too little sun hinders the growth of plants and can dampen the mood of human beings. Too much rain can cause floods; too little rain causes a drought. Too much or too little of either is usually considered a "bad thing" for us or for our planet. Balance is generally a good thing.
This may be true of all aspects of life. Everyone and everything has "good" and "bad" aspects. Without darkness we could not know light; without light we could not know darkness. Without "bad" we could not know "good." We may think that we want JUST the good, but have you ever tasted something that was "sickeningly sweet" - or met someone you would term "a goody two shoes"? Most of us think, "YUCK!" In actuality, we prefer some balance.
Of course, how we see things also depends upon our perception. Whether we want to see rain (or anything else, for that matter) as bad or good is truly our own choice… just as we choose to see a glass as half empty or half full. We can choose to see the good in things, or choose to see the bad. Perhaps the happiest among us are those who can see both, yet appreciate and enjoy the beauty of the balance of life, as a whole…
Copyright ©2000 by Leslie Lobell
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