History Held In a Raindrop
Water. When we look at our world today, water is a commodity that most take for granted. No one suspects we will ever run out of water for the world. However, If you ask any farmer about water, there is never enough.
Our world has a huge water shortage, and we seem to be skipping over the topic to avoid the obvious.
There is not enough water.
When you understand that there is a significant water shortage, then It is easy to appreciate this book and the numerous concepts within It.
This novel is about so much more than a single raindrop, but a single raindrop starts It all. Shafak composes this text beautifully, and as a reader, I was enthralled.
A single raindrop holds history. It holds memories. It has lived numerous lives. This is easy to believe if you know anything about the water cycle. Water falls down. It evaporates back Into the sky. It falls down again. Obviously, there are way more scientific terms Involved, but that is the main component.
Throughout this story, we encounter three different narrators, each on a separate journey, and we are at a different year within each story.
Our first character is King Arthur of the Sewers and Slums. Yes, that is his official name. He is one of the most unique characters I’ve encountered. He meets Charles Dickens (actually works with and for him) before he moves onto studying cuneiform and decoding tablets the Epic of Gilgamesh is written on.
Narin is a little girl traveling to the Valley of Lalish. Her goal is to be blessed there before she becomes deaf.
Zaleekah is a scientist who studies water, and the amount the world is losing with each passing year. She also journeys to uncover lost rivers – rivers that were buried underneath cities In many different parts of the world.
Through each of these characters, readers learn about everything: Ancient Mesopotamia, cuneiform, the cycle of water, history, ISIS, and so much more.
But throughout the entire story, there is one part that remains consistent throughout every narrator and timeline – water.
Water holds the memories of every place before. One raindrop tied together King Ashurbanipal, King Arthur of the Sewer and Slums, Narin, and Zaleekah.
How interesting would it be if we could simply see the history that came before in every raindrop that touched us? What would we do with that information? How would what we value in life shift to things that matter? Would we conserve our resources more if we could see how little we have now to what we had in the past? Would we cherish our world instead of destroying it? Would we finally stop wasting water?
Ultimately, we need water to survive on this earth. Our bodies are mostly water. If we can’t learn to value the literal thing that gives us life, we don’t have much time left in the grand scheme of the universe.
I think of the rule of 3's for survival when I think of the value of water and it sustaining my life.
Rule of 3's:
The human body can survive...
*3 minutes without oxygen
*3 hours without shelter (think in a desert with no shade or in any kind of storm)
*3 days without water
*3 weeks without food.
Three DAYS without water. We can go quite awhile without any food, but water? We would barely make it through half a week.
This book not only holds within its pages a great story, but also some very important points to listen to for the survival of our entire planet. Humans don’t generally respect mother nature because it doesn’t matter. mother nature is beneath us, something we walk on and over. Caring about mother nature is for the hippies.
But if you believe that the earth is alive (just look at the trees and plants, or watch Ferngully if you need to), then you know that it is something precious worth valuing.
I took my time reading this book, partly because I was forced to and partly because I was enjoying it so much I wanted to take my time. This book will impact your soul in the best ways, and it teaches the value of what matters most.
