“Spring has finally sprung,” the daffodils sang outside my kitchen door this morning, a joyous song, well received, but with slight misgivings. There, beside these cheerful golden blossoms, were early signs of pesky intruders.
A weed, according to Webster, “is a plant that is not valued where it is growing.” That could even apply to a beautiful sunflower that migrates into your vegetable patch competing with the tomatoes and cabbages for water, sunlight and nourishment like a drop-in third cousin who disrupts the family’s sleeping and eating arrangements. You can’t throw him out. A fourth cousin maybe, but not a third cousin. He’s a close-enough relative.
It also defines the dandelions and crabgrass growing vigorously wherever they please, in your garden, lawn and through the cracks in your driveway. In the meantime the expensive grass seeds you planted in the lawn’s bare spots have failed to sprout although you watered and spoke warmly to them daily. Even your unprintable threats had no effect.
Weeds are mentioned in the Bible’s parable of the sower where some represent the worldly distractions that impede our spiritual growth. In another parable they stand for the bad characters who will ultimately be weeded out and (Ouch!) burned.
There are many weeds in our lives, events and people that are uglifying our garden. Some are not intrinsically bad, but just in the wrong place at the wrong time, like a Good Humor man with his chimes ringing while he’s parked outside a Weight Watchers’ meeting.
Junk mail, TV commercials and traffic jams are weeds we have to live with. A federal weed-killer, the “Do Not Call List” is about as ineffective as a toothless, friendly watch dog.
We need more effective “herbicides” for the cookies, spams and scams. In a few months some annual weeds will begin to proliferate, the political campaign ads. However, we can strike back. Don’t forget to vote.
Imagine That 