Rain gets a bad rap. Wherever I go, people complain about the rain. In the Pacific Northwet, we like to complain about whatever weather it happens to be that day. Rain, hail, snow, sun, wind, we’re always going to complain. It’s annoyingly in our nature. I want to submit that the rain isn’t really something to complain about. Sure, it sucks when you have a baseball game rained out or a hike you were supposed to go on canceled because of a shower from interminably gray skies, but when you’ve lived with the rain as long as I have, you find a certain comforting beauty in overcast days where water comes falling down like three balls from Steph Curry.
Rain may be kind of a pain in the ass sometimes, but it builds character and makes you tough. Ever wonder why people in Southern California are so soft with their vegan and gluten free diets? Doesn’t rain down there. Why should we let a little thing like the weather derail our plans? We go out there and do it anyway. We’re red-blooded Americans. Nobody pushes us around, not even the weather. Ever see someone from the northwest with an umbrella? If you do, they aren’t really from the northwest. We’re from the land of North Faces as far as the eye can see. Umbrellas are just big neon signs declaring who isn’t native to this wet, wet land. Plus, they poke you in the eye when you try to walk down the street. I may or may not have constructed this premise to rant about how much I hate umbrellas.
Moving back to that character building thing, I wouldn’t be the fantastic person I am today if I hadn’t gutted my way through hundreds of rain soaked afternoons on a baseball field, battling all the adversity that mother nature could throw at me. How are you going to handle the pressures of a high stress workplace if you can’t hit a baseball in a 40 degree drizzle?
Conversely, but just as important, there’s the comforting nature of the rainy day. It’s a great time to curl up by the fireplace with a blanket and a book, or, if you aren’t living in the 1930s, sit on the couch and watch TV. You can bond with family and friends over some tea or hot chocolate, enjoying the soothing rhythm of rain on your roof while all your stress washes away. That might be too idyllic, but there’s been at least one day in my life that’s been like that, so I’m counting it. There’s also the great smell of the first rain after a long dry spell. I love being outside right before that big storm. Maybe it’s because I’m brainwashed by northwestness, but that’s the best.
Getting serious for a second, rain has so many positive effects on the environment. For one thing, it knocks pollution out of the air. The reason the air in the Pacific Northwest is so great and not like, you know, LA, is that it actually rains here. That makes it possible to walk down the street without choking on smog. Rain and its content molecule, water, also have a profound effect on a wide range of international political issues. Water shortage affects areas all over the world, from the Middle East to Africa to South America to right here in the United States. Obviously, we need water to drink, and a lot of it comes from rain. We need those downpours to fill our lakes and rivers, and, in conjunction, our underground aquifers. These stores of mostly potable water are the life force sustaining many developing countries.
Lack of rain is not only directly problematic for people looking to survive on this planet biologically, it puts an enormous amount of strain on the livestock and agricultural industries. This is not only because of irrigation issues, but desertification as well. It becomes a major concern when an entire segment of the population can’t do the work of their ancestors and migrate to the cities, unemployed. Unemployed young people angrily toiling in cities creates the prime environment for political unrest. Some might call it a powder keg. This exact situation has played out in Syria over the last few years, and now the country is split up into hundreds of different factions and ISIS has a major foothold. It’s not all because of lack of water, but if it rained more, it definitely wouldn’t be a bad thing.
On a positive note, a lot of rain creates an environment where renewable energy is an easy option. Western Washington is able to get most of its power from hydroelectric dams, and isn’t reliant on power plants run on fossil fuel like a lot of the rest of the world. That certainly doesn’t hurt the air quality either. Renewable energy will be one of the key issues of the 21st century as oil reserves become more scarce and our planet continues to get hotter. Washington has a major head start because it rains quite a bit here and we can convert that rain into power. Sucks a little bit for the salmon, but we’re talking about rain this time. Enough of a guilt trip for you? Let’s go back to bashing on umbrellas or something.
There are other rain related things that popular culture cannot do without. For example, making it rain is a thing. Not a very bright thing, but a thing nonetheless. Many a rap song is predicated on this very concept. Rain is a good song topic in general, whether you’re James Taylor, Fat Joe, Prince, or Rihanna featuring Jay-Z. One person in that group is an outlier. Bet you’ll never guess which one. It’s also really punny to play with the rain/reign homophone, as evidenced by the Seattle Reign soccer team or the Purple Reign UW football uniforms (S/O Carter Henderson).
Rain is about as popular as Alex Rodriguez at a Mariners game. Or, really, Alex Rodriguez anywhere. But I like it. It ‘s comforting, builds character, prevents political unrest, and tempers reliance on fossil fuels. Plus, we would never have life on earth without it. (Really, we wouldn’t have life without water, but I feel like hyperbole greases the wheels a little bit.) So stop complaining, put on your North Face, and go jump in puddles like a little kid. I totally almost forgot about that. If you weren’t sold before, you should be now.