You know how it feels on a cold, dreary, overcast day. It's a bit dull and depressing for many of us, and seems to sap our energy. Especially if it is ongoing inclement weather ... it's hard to get out of the rainy day blues. Sure, the rain has its purpose and it gives life to our natural world, but it can sure get you down when all you really want is the bright warm sun on your shoulders.

And as I thought about overcast days, I thought about the words of Yoda when he said that the darkside was clouding the future. I hadn't really thought of the words in quite the literal context up to that point, but then I imagined the future as a visual entity that Yoda couldn't see through the haze. Much like we can't see the sun or the blue sky on particularly cloudy days. And he must have felt as dull and depressed as us not being able to take in the glory of a warm sunny day with bright blue skies that let your eye wander. Now I'm not saying that the clouds or the rain are part of the darkside, but the air that is created from the ongoing dull days can resemble the effect of the darkside ... it gets you down and longing for the warm light. The clouds have created a mask for what is really lying behind it.

Palpatine was a master at creating this mask, this atmosphere of dullness that Yoda couldn't see through. He cast the air of the darkside over the galaxy that blocked the warm light of the future and which allowed him to plan and manipulate his way his way to the top. His ongoing clouds acted to cast the Senate, the Jedi Order and the galaxy into a sort of depression that we feel on those dull days. It was a part of his mask as much as his cloak masked his face.

And he also helped in creating a mask for Anakin. In the literal sense, he created an actual mask that Vader would eventually come to wear to sustain his life and also hide the true being that lived behind it. And he also clouded Anakin's mind with thoughts of immortality and power that he used to bend Anakin to his will. The clouds he created in Anakin's mind were only hiding the true person he once was ... the loving and thoughtful podracer that grew up on a planet with very little clouds and very big thoughts on a good life. But the clouds that were created in his mind became a very dark mask that would become a raging storm in his soul. The mask he wore on the outside was a representation of the one that he also wore on the inside ... he masked his true feelings and emotions that told him he was wrong to slice off Mace's hand and join the cloudmaker on this new journey. He became part of the clouds and the storm that blocked Yoda's view of a sunny future and he suddenly couldn't see through the clouds or the mask anymore. And he would wear his mask until the day he died, when his son lifted off both his inner and outer masks.

Now I don't mind a rainy day once in a while and I understand the need for those types of days. And sometimes those days reflect the mood I'm in, or can sometimes cause a mood like a dull day. But I also know that those clouds are just masking the beauty of a blue sky and sunshine behind them.

In Anakin's case, his mask created uncertainty, fear and confusion in both himself and in the galaxy as a whole. He created his own fear, he created his own uncertainty of his life and that of Padme's and he created his own confusion in what to do and where to turn. And the result was to unleash all that upon the galaxy, at Palpatine's urging. So the clouds that Palpatine created were really centred around Anakin in particular ... he needed Anakin's fear, uncertainty and confusion to brew his storm and keep the future behind the clouds, so only he could see.

But in the end, a ray of light pierced those clouds that had been covering Anakin's soul for so long. And that light would dissipate the clouds and cause the sun to shine and brighten the blue sky once more.

It kind of makes me look at a cloudy sky a little differently ... and patiently wait for the sun on my shoulders once again.