Singing Optional

If you have contact lenses, put them in instead of wearing glasses; it would be a shame for the water to unnecessarily obscure its own beauty. Clothing adjustments may be preferred – you will no doubt have been in the middle of something when the weather turned – so switch into your favorite suit (swimsuit, birthday suit, tuxedo, etc.) Make sure you have appropriate footwear. It’s imperative that you not wait until you’ve finished what you’re doing; it could let up at any moment. When others are still rushing to get inside, you will be on your way out. Give them a friendly word as you pass at the doorway. If in return they offer an umbrella, turn it down.

That’s later.
For now, pencils out. Pay attention. Take notes.

Linguisitics 101- Setswana/Tswana is a national language in both Botswana and South Africa (though South Africa has ten other official languages as well). Arguably the most important word in the language is ‘pula.' Pula is the name of the national currency in Botswana. It also means ‘blessing,’ and can be used as a toast or as an exclamation of joy. This mixture of usages for pula might seem overly materialistic. Isn’t there more to being blessed than having money? Before you pass judgement on the people of Botswana, I will confess to having thus far omitted the most significant meaning of pula. The word originally applied to something else. Something valuable enough to name a currency after. Something that is a joyous blessing to receive. Pula’s original definition: ‘rain.’
http://www.pulapulapula.co.uk/Glossary.html

Ecology101 – One commonly used measure of the health of an ecosystem is ‘biodiversity,’ the variation of life forms that exist within an ecosystem. There exists a great variety in the amount of biodiversity from one region to another. In fact, more than 50% of all plant and animal species inhabit a type of ecosystem found on only about 7% of the land on Earth. What type of ecosystem is this? Rainforest.

Economics 101-According to Arthur Lewis, there are three ingredients necessary for an economy to begin to develop. The first is a system of secondary education. The second is sensible government. The third ingredient deemed to be a prerequisite for development came as a surprise to me. It is this: A country must have adequate rainfall.

Sacred Jewish Texts101>Talmud>Ta’anit>Chapter1 –
-Rabbi Hama bar Hanina said: The day of rain is of equal importance with the day on which heaven and earth were created, as it is written [Isaiah, xlv. 8]: "Drop down, ye heavens, from above and let the skies distil blessing; let the earth open, and let them all be fruitful of prosperity, and let righteousness spring up likewise: I the Lord have created it."
-Rabbi Itz'hak said: "The day of rain is such a blessed day, that even the coin in one's pocket is blessed
-Rabbi Abbahu said: "The day of rain is of more importance than the day of resurrection; for on the latter day only the righteous will arise from the dead, but rain falls for all alike, righteous and wicked."
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/t04/taa06.htm#page_1

History101 – Umbrellas were originally invented to protect people from: the sun.

I began writing this blog after telling a friend that I was going to convince people that they love - rather than, for example, dread - rainfall. I cannot, of course, expect to succeed in this. But I can tell you why I wanted to try.


The confession to my host mom was less awkward than I expected it to be. Why was my towel so dirty? Well, instead of only using it to dry myself after a shower, I had used it to dry off after going out into the rain. But wasn’t it after midnight when it started raining? Uh.. yes. About midnight. Smile.
She, like the rest of my host family, had been asleep Sunday night when the sound of rain on the metal roof prompted me to quickly finish my midnight snack. If she was awake, she didn't hear me over the sounds of the rain as I emerged from my room in my swim trunks, grabbed the key to the front door off of the top of the refrigerator, and let myself out into the first rain Burkina Faso had seen for six months. She could tell when she went to bed that it was almost certainly going to rain, but this didn’t cause her heart to beat more quickly as it did mine. It didn’t make her savor the heavy dusty wind that carried a smell of freshness along with the usual variety of illnesses. Madame Ka Ba has lived through decades of dry seasons.
I imagine that practiced monks break fasts in a composed, even solemn manner, enjoying a small meal when the time of fasting has come to an end. In the same situation, I would – and indeed once did – gorge myself. I’m not used to going without. That Sunday I stayed out in the rain until the clouds had emptied or passed. I didn’t leave the courtyard. I stayed home, content to simply be in the rain – not a heavy rain – experimenting with various neck angles for optimal rain-against-face enjoyment. I made a point of trying something that I did as a child in grassy muddy streetside ditches: I found a little stream of water rushing off toward lower ground, and tried to block it with a dam constructed out of what rocks and mud and leaves were readily available to me. Soon, pleased with my partial success, I was squatting underneath our mango tree and splashing my hands in my tiny man-made puddle, as six months of dust washed off the tree’s leaves and onto me.

The trees were so much greener Monday morning.

My tendency is to think of it as “playing” in the rain, but it is the simple enjoyment of being directly in the rain that is of importance. The next time there is a warm rain, let it cleanse you of stress. Make the time to follow a rivulet running along ground that – perhaps you had never noticed before – is slightly lower than the earth surrounding it. Follow it uphill or down until you reach – what?
Sit in the puddle that you find most enchanting (the murkiest shade of red?). Or just stand in the rain. Stand and feel each drop and think about oceans and evaporations, about drizzles and downpours, about the irrigation systems that feed you, about clouds, who, at their angriest, shower us with life. Think about life and creation anew. Think about blessings, baptisms, water-themed amusement parks, Hollywood funerals. Think your own rainy thoughts. Think about what's valuable to you.