Personal introspection | Memory | Being an Individual (5 Oct 2019)

When I was a kid, I loved watching raindrops rolling down the car window. It looked like they were having a race, except they'd all win, joining the collective rain puddled at the bottom of the window pane.

Life is a lot like that. We start out as individual raindrops, slipping and sliding blithely along. Then race to blend in and before we know it, we're gone.

At some point, I started cheering for those raindrops who took a new course, who darted sideways instead of down.

Inevitably, they'd reach the edge of the window, gather their watery skirts about themselves and leap. Maybe they landed on another window or the pavement for a new adventure. Maybe they landed on a leaf and slid down to the ground to nourish life. Or maybe they landed on the edge of a flower petal and gathered all the power of the sun to help make a rainbow at the end of the storm.

There might be comfort in being with the crowd, but real satisfaction in choosing your own path.