Weather Bulletin

Using the weather as a way to start a conversation is not a universal phenomena.  For example, in Korea people greet each other by asking if they've been eating well.  The idea that rainy days are depressing is likewise not a world-wide perspective.  I’d like to share a few points that may give us a different way of thinking about the weather.

1)      A delightful children’s picture book entitled A Country Far Away by Nigel Gray tells the same simple story of a child’s day.  One side of the page illustrates what the text mean for a boy in North America; the other side has pictures of an African boy experiencing the same story.  There is one page about weather: “It rained, so we went swimming.”  The North American boy and his dad brave the rain to get to the indoor public pool, while the African boy and his friends go swimming outside…in the rain.

2)      I grew up on a farm.  I know firsthand how dependent farmers are upon the weather in order to first grow and then harvest their crops.  Now that I live in the city I find myself irked by the weather reports prefaced with, “Today will be nice weather.”  Who says sunny is the only kind of “nice” weather?  Rain may be inconvenient for urbanites, but if they’d like to eat they need to be grateful for the range of weather God sends us.  Last summer our family went camping during a significant drought.  When it rained during our camping trip we had a good attitude about it and were prepared with tarps and a waterproof dining tent.

3)       There is a Scandinavian proverb I’ve heard that has been quoted and misquoted.  “There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.”  I first heard this when an American presenter at a Kindergarten teacher’s conference shared it.  She found that many schools in the United States use any excuse to NOT send children outdoors to play.  She was relieved to hear it is not the same way in Canada.  When children and adults are dressed properly, the outdoors are a great and healthy place to be.

Do you have some words of wisdom related to weather that you’d like to share?  Leave a comment.