I knew I had to let it go, but I never realized the depth of my anger and the cost of its toll. So many years, so much energy and so much grief. Who knows the progress I could’ve made, the skills I could’ve acquired, and the successes that because of it, have escaped me.
But, I think I finally have done it. The weights that have fallen from my shoulders, the scales from my eyes and the burgeoning of my love has been unimaginable. Yes, I have finally came to terms with it all and think that it is finally all behind me.
You should do the same.
So should we as a community and nation. We should apply the same to our businesses, our religious institutions, and our governments. The freedom of spirit, the un-shackling of our creativity, let alone the millions of dollars we will save that can better be spent to more highly compensate our teachers, our artists, and our caretakers will be revolutionary.
So give it up, come to terms with your hatred of weeds and your libertine love of mown monocultural grasses that drain your rivers and streams, require the sweat and blood of your labor force, and drain your governmental coffers and leave you with budget deficits.
Don’t hate weeds; love weeds, embrace weeds, and while you should trim them and manage their encroachment upon your vegetable gardens, let them take over your lawns-- those last and enduring remnants of the Cold War and its plot to enslave capitalists into fighting a never ending and unwinnable war to maintain little square patches, long strips, and sprinkler riddled pitches of selfish, boring, monotonous acres upon acres of unrelenting Kentucky bluegrass and various other burdensome varieties of grass.
If God had wanted men to have miles of mown, monocultural turf fields, he would have planted it on their heads and the planes of the United States, the pampas of South America’s flatlands, the savannas of the African, the steppes of Asia, and the pastures of Europe would have been covered with green artificial turfs with fairways, greens, sand traps, bunkers, and benign water hazards in which conquests and migrations would have been accomplished via driving and putting competitions instead of wars and imperialism.
Wait you say, won’t all those weed-riddled “lawns” look distasteful, drag down property values, and take jobs from herbicide, fertilizer, insecticide and landscaping companies? No and yes. After a few years our eyes will grow accustomed to and find more beautiful the “weed” riddled lawns or xeriscapes that take less maintenance, no water, no herbicides, fertilizers and insecticides and are more beautiful and we will come to think that the grass lawns are ugly.
And yes, we will lose jobs, but given that humans are enterprising and resourceful, we will have money for other services and people will train for and be hired for those new jobs.
So come to terms with your hatred of weeds. Let whatever grows on those flat areas that you have not xeriscaped and do not need for soccer fields to grow whatever your climate and ecosystem allows, pay only enough to trim it and take up a new hobby, one that does not include spending hours on creating the perfect monocultural lawn that should not be the envy of our existence.
If I could trade in all of the hours that I have spent in my life, mowing and taking care of lawns and instead have spent them enriching my life and mind, that would’ve been more praiseworthy, virtuous, lovely, and of good report than having the mowing skills. Don’t teach your kids how to mow, teach them how to play guitar instead. Don’t use water for your lawn, leave it in the creek and river and teacher kids how to fish. Don’t spend tax dollars maintaining acres of Kentucky bluegrass, spend it on teachers and artists. That will make your world more beautiful than all the patches of lawn in all the world. Now breathe, do a sun salutation, and exhale your anger against weeds.
Loren M Lambert, April 10, 2016©
But, I think I finally have done it. The weights that have fallen from my shoulders, the scales from my eyes and the burgeoning of my love has been unimaginable. Yes, I have finally came to terms with it all and think that it is finally all behind me.
You should do the same.
So should we as a community and nation. We should apply the same to our businesses, our religious institutions, and our governments. The freedom of spirit, the un-shackling of our creativity, let alone the millions of dollars we will save that can better be spent to more highly compensate our teachers, our artists, and our caretakers will be revolutionary.
So give it up, come to terms with your hatred of weeds and your libertine love of mown monocultural grasses that drain your rivers and streams, require the sweat and blood of your labor force, and drain your governmental coffers and leave you with budget deficits.
Don’t hate weeds; love weeds, embrace weeds, and while you should trim them and manage their encroachment upon your vegetable gardens, let them take over your lawns-- those last and enduring remnants of the Cold War and its plot to enslave capitalists into fighting a never ending and unwinnable war to maintain little square patches, long strips, and sprinkler riddled pitches of selfish, boring, monotonous acres upon acres of unrelenting Kentucky bluegrass and various other burdensome varieties of grass.
If God had wanted men to have miles of mown, monocultural turf fields, he would have planted it on their heads and the planes of the United States, the pampas of South America’s flatlands, the savannas of the African, the steppes of Asia, and the pastures of Europe would have been covered with green artificial turfs with fairways, greens, sand traps, bunkers, and benign water hazards in which conquests and migrations would have been accomplished via driving and putting competitions instead of wars and imperialism.
Wait you say, won’t all those weed-riddled “lawns” look distasteful, drag down property values, and take jobs from herbicide, fertilizer, insecticide and landscaping companies? No and yes. After a few years our eyes will grow accustomed to and find more beautiful the “weed” riddled lawns or xeriscapes that take less maintenance, no water, no herbicides, fertilizers and insecticides and are more beautiful and we will come to think that the grass lawns are ugly.
And yes, we will lose jobs, but given that humans are enterprising and resourceful, we will have money for other services and people will train for and be hired for those new jobs.
So come to terms with your hatred of weeds. Let whatever grows on those flat areas that you have not xeriscaped and do not need for soccer fields to grow whatever your climate and ecosystem allows, pay only enough to trim it and take up a new hobby, one that does not include spending hours on creating the perfect monocultural lawn that should not be the envy of our existence.
If I could trade in all of the hours that I have spent in my life, mowing and taking care of lawns and instead have spent them enriching my life and mind, that would’ve been more praiseworthy, virtuous, lovely, and of good report than having the mowing skills. Don’t teach your kids how to mow, teach them how to play guitar instead. Don’t use water for your lawn, leave it in the creek and river and teacher kids how to fish. Don’t spend tax dollars maintaining acres of Kentucky bluegrass, spend it on teachers and artists. That will make your world more beautiful than all the patches of lawn in all the world. Now breathe, do a sun salutation, and exhale your anger against weeds.
Loren M Lambert, April 10, 2016©
