Yesterday I saw a rainbow

Hoping and waiting so terribly long looking searching for ten years there were only occasional glimpses very occasional small fragments.

At last, and well worth the effort and patience:

There it was. Magnificent. Triumphant. In all its splendour a majestic unbroken half circle a giant arch side to side standing as if planted in the ground up to high in the air and it lingered.

Excitedly stumbling around looking up I was washed by the cold clean waterdrops and with sunlight from behind. The grass crisp green and fresh with pure scents of nature and rain barefoot in puddles mud squelching between the toes like a schoolboy.

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For years after every shower and with rain I went outside in the garden and gazed hopefully toward the East late afternoon is best with the sunlight from behind. From the geometry it looks to me as if your chances are best then. Elsewhere in nature one can see the colours in waterfalls in the spray and mist and fine droplets, and on a clear day on the ocean's horizon as a very thin rainbow band.

The physical nature of it can be explained by the physics of optics, as refraction in air by suspended tiny round waterdrops where reflected white light seperates in a spectrum of colours similar to a glass prism. Refer to any good general encyclopedia for explanations and diagrams.

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The colours red orange yellow green blue indigo violet and all and each has its own meanings, in its wondrous beauty in the rainbow is hope, miraculous mercy, new beginning and a promise of grace and God's eternal love.

In our own beautiful country the rainbow colours and our own colourful flag stand as symbolic of an inclusive harmony.

Our many people's take great pride in their different cultures, each with rich history, with different religions traditions and eleven languages. It is for this unity in diversity that former President Mandela named us the Rainbow Nation.