Raindrops

A reading from TLS forum

Excerpt from 11-FEB-2007 =================

At some point during its life journey, a single rain drop takes oncharacteristics of its surroundings. In a stagnant confine, it is part of a breeding ground for mosquitoes and water-borne disease causing parasites. In an irrigation canal, it is crucial to crops. In a moving current, it carries all sorts of articles that happen to come its way - good, bad or anything in between. In a bottle labeled with some fancy names, it enjoys certain prestige - real or imagined. Regardless of how it is being used, or where it ends up, the drop of rainwater retains its most basic characteristic: it is the result of mixing together "2 parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen" (H2O). So ... is it a success to be "bottled water", or "irrigation canalwater" or ...I often wonder about my fellow ex-Tanjong in "rain water" terms. I have no doubt we each end up in different stages of usefulness - as measured by some arbitrarily defined social standard. Our own view of ourselves and/or others' view of us notwithstanding, all of us are direct products of TLS: we are TLS family. Regardless of who/where we are, and what station in society we may occupy, I am hopeful that we would acknowledge one another as part of TLS family, and would choose to stay connected in some fashion.
Cheers, Sam