This is a chapter from my fourth book called When hunger yearns
Ever since the dawn of humans and throughout history, man has asked the question, is it going to rain today? From the early days of looking for natural signs and animal behavior and even astrology to predict the weather to modern use of satellites and artificial intelligence. We have also been trying to influence the rain through rain dances and other rituals to modern day cloud seeding and research through specialized equipment, aircraft, and trained personnel. Who better to ask for rain than Him who controls everything. I read that there is a muslim prayer for rain or salat al-istisqa ("rain request prayer"). It is a sunnah salah (Islamic prayer) for requesting and seeking rainwater from God. Trinidad has been having really hot days these days and in my quest to get an answer to the question, I asked a local meteorologist on twitter. I even asked my mom and as they say moms know best. She say she doh feel so because of how hot it is outside. I asked Google, the modern day Einstein. Google says that the forecast says zero percent chance of precipitation. There is even a whole domain name for this question - isitgoingtoraintoday.com
Where does rain come from? I would think that geography influences the rain. I am sure you have heard of the linguistic tool or simply the tongue twister, "the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plains." Turns out this is not factual and my friend Gemini tells me that it is an oversimplification and doesn't accurately represent the country's diverse geographical regions with varying rainfall patterns. Gemini tells me that rain comes from the continuous process of water evaporating, rising as vapor, condensing into clouds, and then falling back to Earth as precipitation.
It is important to protect the environment, live in harmony with nature, take action on climate change and promote water conservation. Water is life is the often stated fact. Gemini tells me that while the exact wording might not be historically traceable, the Lakota phrase "Mní Wičhóni" translates to "Water is life" and has been used for generations, highlighting the cultural and spiritual significance of water. If we wanted we could put on our chemistry hat and say that H2O stands for Hydration is 2nd to Oxygen - This emphasizes water's necessity, placing it just behind oxygen in importance for survival.
Rain has taken on the role of hero and villain but mostly villain when it comes to idioms like "rain on my parade" to "save for a rainy day" to "it never rains but it pours". I see rain as a blessing from above. Vivian Greene famously said, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain." So back to the original question. Is it going to rain today? Only time will tell. Waiting on the rain is like waiting on a prayer to be answered. Only God knows. Science can predict with varying degrees of accuracy but only God knows for sure. When it is hot sun we want rain. When it is raining we want sunshine. The Beatles sang the song Rain and in the lyrics they say, "Rain. I don't mind. Shine. The weather's fine." My friend Gemini tells me that we can look at the song literally and metaphorically. It is encouraging a more accepting outlook on rain. It can be seen as a metaphor for life's challenges and finding value in introspective periods. I end with some wisdom from Saint Basil, "Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger."
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