Are We “Rainy Day People?”

“Rainy day people always seem to know when it’s time to call
Rainy day people don’t talk, they just listen till they’ve heard it all

Rainy day lovers don’t lie when they tell ‘ya they’ve been down like you
Rainy day people don’t mind if you’re cryin’ a tear or two” (Rainy Day People, Gordon Lightfoot)

It took me a long time to understand the meaning behind what Gordon Lightfoot wrote and sung in his 1975 song. Sometimes you just like a tune, but you don’t really internalize it’s meaning. And often when you are young you haven’t experienced the ups and downs of what this world has to offer. As I listened to this old song the other day, I reflected on the nature of its meaning. And I wondered if I was a ‘rainy day person’ to others. Or do I get caught up in my life so much that I am not that friend, that sibling, or that husband or father who is there to listen in time of need. Do I sympathize, or in some cases empathize with others around me? Do I ‘listen to it all’ or half listen as a loved one express themselves to me. And do I let them ‘cry a tear of two’ without rushing them out the door or off the phone. Am I a ‘Rainy Day Lover,’ so to speak? Or when the rain falls in the lives of others am I absent?

I love the quote from Stephen R. Covey on this matter. Said he, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” And Malcom Forbes once said, “The art of conversation lies in listening.”

I’m going to work on joining others in being “Rainy Day People.” Perhaps I will find, that not only can I help part the dreary skies for others; but in so doing, my skies will become brighter because I have felt the joy that comes when you serve your fellowman with a sincere heart.

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