The Coming of the Rains

We seem to have been conditioned to dislike the rain. As soon as we could mutter words, we are taught the rhyme: "Rain, Rain, go away; Come again another day; Little Johnny wants to play." Unwitting parents and other authority figures drill it into our consciousness and the mindset holds as we grow.

And it sticks even as our understanding of things broadens. It's no wonder that we commonly associate the rain with inactivity, boredom, gloom. While we know that it need not be so, the concept that was planted in our young, impressionable minds prevails. We wish for the rain to go away.

But the rain comes with unfailing regularity; it comes after summer, every time. Our not wanting it does not make it go away. It comes around when it's time.

Yet many of us in the city still get caught off-guarded by the rainfall. We curse the sudden rain, while we might as well be cursing ourselves. Our refusal to understand the cycle of the seasons makes us unprepared.

The rainy days are here again - a big inconvenience to us city dwellers. The rains hamper the dynamism of city life. It is messy and restricts our free and swift movement from place to place, especially so in an old city like Cebu where it easily floods after just a drizzle.

Many city industries complain that their productivity inexplicably slumps during the rainy season, notwithstanding their efforts to rain-proof their working places. Psychiatrists also say that the onset of the rainy season can trigger depressive moods in people, as the rains tend to restrain their mobility and activity.

There is just that something about the rain that holds us back, making us weary. Aware of the possibility of getting drenched, we choose not to go out, opting to stay in our little world and be lonely. Even as our modern communications technology has forever broken individual confinement - and there's no more reason to feel alone even inside an isolation cell - we remain restricted by a deeply ingrained, flawed view.

We still get surprised by a sudden rain during the rainy days. We are never prepared. Over and over we come upon the many predictable 'surprises' - the common flu and a host of other illnesses, among other things.

The kids are often the most vulnerable victims; before they even catch the first signs of cough and colds, the rains would have had already taken away their playtime. Yet, perhaps the worst affliction children get is the misinformation that real fun can only be found outside, a tactic resorted to by adults in order to keep the little ones from messing up the household. The falsehood is seldom set right, and is held as true as the kids grow.

It's not the rain that dampens our spirit, it's our mindset. Out in the rural farmlands people celebrate the coming of the rains; they even have thanksgiving rituals for it. Rain is a boon for their growing crops. For them, the rains signal a new growth, a new beginning, a new hope.

In the rural town where I come from, the thickening of the clouds enlivens the community. People suddenly become excited and jubilant as the cold winds begin to blow. It heralds a fervently awaited time.

Even the fishermen that have to stay home during the rainy days welcome the downpours. It is their time for some rest, or for helping out in the farms. They say the rainy season is the time for the seas to recover, to replenish its resources after months of incessant harvesting.

The rain that comes to water the crop fields that need it most is the same rain that dampens the spirit of the city that does not want it. How come? We need to learn something: The thing we can't change should better change us.