Am I the only person who thinks that dandelions can actually improve the appearance of a lawn, rather than detract from it?
You know what? That is not a strong enough statement. It’s too apologetic. I have the right and duty to go on the offensive, ignore the assumptions and reset the parameters of the dialogue myself.
I say if you happen to look upon a field of green grass with lots of little, yellow flowers growing in it and the only thoughts that enter your mind are concepts such as “blight,” “decreasing property values,” or “Why isn’t the city using weed killer in the public parks? I pay my taxes, damn it!” then there must be some kind of dark, empty hole in your soul. And if thoughts like “those are sure pretty colors, it’s a nice day today” come into your mind, but you push them aside so as to indulge your desires for propriety and control, and judge those beautiful little flowers as obscene…I don’t know, because I’m really no moral authority, but that might be even worse. The denial of beauty and goodness. I guess we all do it, though, don’t we? But since we are talking about arbitrary qualities, it is usually much more fun to choose to enjoy something that to choose to hate something. If you like something you can just enjoy it rather than catalog all its shortcomings and what must be done to change or destroy it.
It’s not like we’re harvesting any kind of a crop from our lawns and parks, and the dandelions are ruining it. The grass is just there to look at and to be an available place to play certain games upon, and dandelions do not really interfere with either of those purposes. I’m tired of living in a culture where the appearance of a person’s lawn serves as some sort of moral barometer. I hate that I see dandelions and they make me happy until I think, “Oh, those should probably be gotten rid of.”