What Comes First?

Thunder and lightning. Or is it?

The rumble you hear during a storm is actually created by the lightning. Each flash causes the air temperature nearby to quickly rise, at times to as much as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Immediately afterwards, the air starts to cool. It's this rapid temperature change that creates the roiling boom we know as thunder.

And so it is with life. Out of the blue, something happens. The shock blinds us for a moment, just like a flash of lightning. But it's the aftermath, the thunder, that is so damaging. These secondary waves of tumult are what truly test our mettle. Reverberations that demand we dig deeply into our reserves -- for strength, endurance, and faith.

In life, as in science, it's lightning ... and then thunder.

"I spent the night on a sliver of rock, listening to the lightning crack above me and the thunder roll down." - James Salter