The luck of the Irish is all around us as people prepare to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a holiday cherished for the whimsical feelings of joy as leprechauns, pots of gold, and four leaf clovers, and wishes for luck and prosperity fill the air. But there’s one iconic symbol that tends to get overlooked amidst all of these iconic symbols, including the pot of gold: the rainbow that leads to that pot of gold.
So in honor of St. Patrick’s Day’s most downplayed symbol, let’s explore the word rainbow in this week’s Weekend Word.
rain·bow
ˈrānˌbō/
noun
- an arch of colors formed in the sky in certain circumstances, caused by the refraction and dispersion of the sun’s light by rain or other water droplets in the atmosphere.
- any display of the colors of the spectrum produced by dispersion of light.
- a wide range or variety of related and typically colorful things.
There are two things that are essential for a rainbow to exist: water and light. Think about how most rainbows occur. There is usually a heavy rainstorm in the midst of darkness, and then the sun shines out of the clouds and onto the puddles of water, creating a bright, beautiful prism of color in the sky. It takes a lot of darkness and stormy weather to create a vision of beauty. And, if luck would have it as Irish lore says, there is a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow.
Now, of course we all know there’s no real pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s become symbolic euphemism of the good fortune that comes on the other side of a storm or dark period in life. Just look at Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. An orphaned girl upset with her Auntie Em and Uncle, runs away from home facing a terrible storm and an internal struggle. After flying over the rainbow and following the yellow brick road, she comes to realize her good fortune has always laid in her home sweet home with Auntie Em. She too found her pot of gold.
The orphans that Hope for Hearts serves are not all that different from Dorothy when you look at it. They too are facing the toughest time in their life. Surrounded by darkness, living life on the streets, with no other family, no promise of food or shelter. It is the darkest storm to have face, and there’s no Auntie Em for them to go home to.
Fortunately, Hope for Hearts and the people who support our organization are that rainbow for these children. By coming to our schools they not only get a roof over their head and a family that supports them, but if they follow the “yellow brick road” and study hard, they too can learn valuable skills that will lead them to “gold” in the form of a job and self-sufficiency. We can lift them from poverty to prosperity if only we get them over the rainbow.
I’m going to leave you with this last thought from Actor Chris Pine:
“I believe in luck and fate and I believe in karma, that the energy you put out in the world comes back to meet you.”
Wishing you Luck,
Cristen
