This is an essay I wrote in English Class. We had to write about a quote that we lived by or one that struck us as striking. (:
"When raindrops hit the ground for a split second they look like stars." - Rob Bell
Rob Bell wrote a book based off this quote. The book changed my views on life, creativity, & suffering. Every time I read the book, it makes me revaluate the beauty that comes from pain, the creativity that comes through suffering, relativity that comes through the commonality of loss, & the growth that comes through struggling.
When I say that this changed my life I really do mean it. People so often associate rain with sorrow, gloominess, darkness, bitterness, lamentations, mourning, & even death at times. This quote defies all of that & defines the appearence of rain in a new light. The quote says they glisten like stars. I have never found someone who would deny the beauty of a twinkling star in a black sky; so no longer is rain being associated with things that are ugly; it is being associate with things that are pretty. This has affected my outlook on pouring rain. Though at times it depresses me, I remind myself of glistening stars, & my mood changes.
Now that I try to think positively on rain, I realize so much more. Rain purifies. It washes away things from the ground that could be possibly harmful, like chemicals & pollution. If you watch rain fall on a dirty car, washes away the dirt. In movies like Braveheart, it washed away the blood stains. In this sense the rain rids things of the old & filthiness, to replace it with something new & clean.
Rain is a necessity for growth. Trees, flowers, grass, crops, & plants all require rain to grow. Not only is rain needed to grow, but it is
needed to survive. I really got myself thinking this time. Rain is thought of as "sad & unpleasant," but honestly it is for the better good & growth of our planet. Maybe, just maybe, we need to be "sad & unpleasant" at times in our life, to grow, to change, to become a better person, & to come out standing at the end. Again, maybe we need to be "sad & unpleasant" to survive. Communication is a key to survival, & to be human. Being "sad & unpleasant" is something that everyone relates too. Everyone can relate to loneliness, sadness, sorrow, loss, & being uncomfortable. Maybe there is an allegorical rain that is necessary for us as a race, to thrive.
The theme of Rob's book, Drops Like Stars, is creativity & suffering. Every time I see rain now, or think about of rain, I automatically think of this book. One part of the book talks about shattering the box. You all know the box, it's the reference that most people use to account for being creative or not. Rob said you need to shatter the box. He says the truth when he says that thinking outside of the box is still thinking inside of the box, because your basing your potential to the limitations of the box. If you really want to be creative you have to shatter the box, & eliminate its walls & standards in your life. That quote itself hit me hard.
I shatter the box of stereotypical rain & opened myself up to a new paradigm of rain. I foud a way, reason, & purpose to change my opinions on things.
Shadows prove the sun shines, and life is proof of rain. The End.
