falling for the rain

Today is a rainy day here. I'm not complaining, my place is not one of those cities that is too polluted clouds would produce acid rain. I actually like it when it rains... whether it's small rain, fat rain, rain that goes sideways, and even rain with wind, lightning, and thunder. 

I remember when I fell in love with this drops of water from the sky. I was sixteen and standing on a picket line as we blocked the main entrance of UP Los Baños. We had been there for a week under the heat of the sun and the cold of the night, dauntlessly protesting against the Chancellor and the government because of the tuition fee increase (which seriously is overrated because more than 70% of UP's students are Bracket 9, meaning they are monied). My friend Arnold was sitting beside me, who was from Quezon, was silently convincing me of starting a leftist group inside the campus. To create a leftist vanguard that will prevent such atrocities and corruption. I kept on thinking maybe this is why NPAs proliferate in Quezon (this was the time before Arnold became a born again).

I didn't know how to respond to him without hurting his feelings. He was my best friend. As I sat there trying to come up of ways how to decline his offer it started to drizzle, my first expectation was the students would run for cover. As the drizzle became an outpour and I saw the students still sitting and beside me Arnold sat still I looked up to the gray sky and smile.

"You know the raindrops," I said out loud without looking at him, "they remind me of the people we meet in life." 

"What do you mean?" he replied. "Well, we don't meet all the people in the world that's why not all raindrops fall on us. But they do have an impact on us still, indirectly" I looked at him "And those that drop on us and drench us are people who touch our core, our being and may cause us suffering or cause us to feel refreshed."

He nodded in agreement. And that day it made me happy that me and Arnold was able to let go of the present moment for a few minutes and enjoy the rain. Everytime it rains, I still remember that day. And then I offer a silent thanks to the God.