Rain.

Rain.

by; Izzati Idrus

How do you feel about rain?

I found Myself asking Me today, when I saw the skies poured water onto the earth. The curiosity was born out of the realization that some jump in joy upon being granted rain while some dread the coming of rain.

So Me pondered a little. Considering that I was not one of those unfortunate ones who suffered flood to feel miserable about the rain, nor was I one of those in the drought area to be elated upon the fall of even a drop of rain, I suppose I was just one of those who hadn't thought much about the rain. Until today, when the question suddenly, randomly hit me.

Then my father said, "There will always be someone unhappy about something while somebody else is happy about the same thing." Just like the saying, "One man's meat is another man's poison."

As I'm writing these words, the song "Be Yourself" play on with the lyrics going on about how a bouquet of flowers could relate to both weddings and funerals. Although the song was by Audioslave, I got a flashback of Guns N' Roses' music video for their song November Rain where the bride threw a bouquet of flowers and the next scene showing a dozen of roses landing on a grave.

I may have digressed a little, but these things are somehow interconnected. They are all proofs to show that one thing could have more than one light that hits it, more than one angle to look at it. They are all about different perspectives.

Hence the question "How do you feel about rain?"

Because to some, rain means the sun is not grinning up above to shower Her good sunlight on our heads. It means they cannot go out and play, it means the clothes will get wet and they can get sick playing in the rain. The gloomy grey sky of a rainy day further depresses them.

But to some others, rain means the world is cleansed. All the bad things are watered down today for a fresher, cleaner tomorrow. It means the world is being fed so that it could say its grace later by being greener and bearing fruits for its occupants.

To me, rain is a friend. You see, rain is water and water is like fire. In my mother tongue, there is a proverb that goes "Api kecil kawan, api besar lawan" which literally means "Small fire is a friend, big fire is an enemy". As long as rain does not come in over abundance to cause me inconvenience in any way, I have no reason to make it my enemy.

Of course, there had been days when I went "Oh great, now we can't go out" in sinister or "Damn I forgot to bring an umbrella today" but I never had to be so desperate as to sing "rain, rain go away" in vain hope to plead it to please stop. Not even when I just washed my clothes and hung them up to dry. I hadn't the need to ever pray for rain to fall either, just so I could grow crops to survive.

Because until today, rain has been my friend. For all the times that it was with me and all the times that it was not. There were times when I cried by myself and was glad to know that I was not alone because my tears were accompanied by the rain on the other side of the window. And I could always vividly recall the great sensation of breathing the air after the rain, especially in the mornings. One of the moments I was reminded of how good it was to be alive.

Rain has been kind to me. I may have only a few friends, but rain is one of them. And for that, I can never forget to be grateful.