I'll never forget the rainy Black Friday years ago when I pulled up in front of a shopping mall and witnessed an assault on Mother Nature.
A man passed through the electric sliding doors of the Foodcourt entrance and stepped into a downpour. Evidently, he was unprepared for the weather because when the drops began to hit him, he looked into the heavens, grimaced, extended balled fists into the sky, and flipped Mother Nature the bird.
It was as if this man believed the atmosphere conspired against him alone, like a cartoon where a rain cloud follows one character around. He snapped.
I sat in the driver's seat, shocked first into silence and then into uncontrollable laughter.
Not long ago, I walked through a busy atrium, and an older woman greeted me in passing. "What a beautiful day," she said, which prompted me to turn and look out the bank of windows nearby.
Gray skies. Rain splashing on dingy concrete.
I glanced back at her, confused for a moment. The scene outside didn't seem to match her description or the big smile on her face. Apparently, her mood didn't catch the weather report that morning.
So who was right? The middle finger wagging Black Friday shopper or the star of Singin' in the Rain Part 2?
The answer, of course, is yes. Someone said,
"We don't see things as they are. We see things as we are."
Or put another way, what we call reality is filtered through a kaleidoscope of personality and environment and disposition. Our experience within this "reality" can change in an instant.
It's helpful to remember this not just when we're looking out the window, but when we interact with others, when we struggle in our relationships, and when we wrestle with the person in the mirror. At any moment, we're free to say, "Maybe there's another way to look at this." And each time, we'll be right.
Farmers bless the rain while others curse it for ruining the picnic. It's all in how you see it. The clouds don't care either way.
Its funny because when its dry outside we complain about it, then when it rains we complain about that also :(
Good one!