Sunbeams and Rainfalls

Today I woke up to a sunny morning. The bright rays of the sun cheerfully greeted me as I went out the door of my house. It seemed like a good start for the day. Great! But with the weather having been so erratic these past few weeks, it's no surprise to find the sunbeams openly embracing the earth in their glowing light one moment and then suddenly hiding behind a dark sky the next. And just as I had expected, towards the late afternoon, tears began to drop from the heavens. It started as a soft drizzle and quickly turned into a strong rainfall. I couldn't see well while driving. My wipers were going crazy. The traffic was terrible! To top it all off, I was feeling drowsy... And because the cars were hardly moving, I felt my eyes yearning to rest. But then I tried to fight it because once I closed my eyes, I could feel my mind drifting off to dreamland. I couldn't risk falling asleep in the middle of a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam along Ortigas Avenue..or on any road for that matter.

This past week, I had been putting off getting a car wash because of the unpredictable weather. Mother Nature's admonition, I guess. But as the dust particles inside and outside of my car gathered and thickened, I was left with no choice. I finally had a car wash, partially due to my disgust and partially due to wanting my mom to stop bugging me about it and repeatedly saying, "Parang anak mo 'yang kotse mo. Buhay mo 'yan!" Well...at least I was happy about my clean and shiny car. But it didn't last long. The rain had to fall again--- on the same day, of course.

Climate change is well underway, and it's getting the best of us. We were deprived of our summer vacation as the storms came early in April. And when the rain showers are not present, the heat is so immense that it just seems to drain all of our energies! Let us also not forget the weird twister episodes in the metro that have recently done a lot of damage. I do hope we soon realize the danger this is leading to for our planet, and start doing our parts in taking care of our environment.

All this talk about sunbeams and rainfalls remind me of what my 9-year-old student shared with me before. She believed that when it was purely raining with a gray and gloomy atmosphere enveloping us, God was crying and was sad. But when the sun was still shining together with the rain, this means that God was happy and was showering us with blessings. What a nice way to look at it, with such innocence. I guess in some way, the weather conditions may serve as messages from nature and from up above too. No matter what perspective we choose to take, what's important is for us to listen.