Dandelions
"Dandelions are tap-rooted biennial or perennial herbaceous plants, native to temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere of the Old World. They are commonly known as weeds or ruderals." (copied from Wikipedia)
I was looking back through some old writings of mine and I came across something I wrote in junior high about dandelions. I started thinking about what I had written and the more I thought about it, the more it evolved. I don't even know what to call it. My theory? Not really a theory. I'm not sure. But here it is.
When I was a little girl, I used to go out into our yard and pick beautiful bouquets of flowers for my mom. She loved them. I did this every year and then one year my mom finally informed me that these beautiful yellow flowers where really just weeds. WHAT?!? WHY?? I just couldn't understand what made them weeds. But, as any young kid is apt to do, I just accepted that and moved on through life never thinking much more about until now.
The other day I was looking at my yard and thinking about all those damn yellow weeds and how hard they are to get rid of. What a pain in the ass. Then my daughter came in with a flower for mommy.
I didn't see a weed anymore. I saw that same flower I picked for my mom all those years ago. Why couldn't I look at them they same way my innocent little girl did? Why should I see them as weeds? They're not ugly. Is it just because everyone calls them weeds? If I wanted my yard covered in pretty yellow posies, I'd probably have all kinds of trouble getting flowers to grow there. Why be annoyed with these hardy little beauties?
It's all about our perception. If you look at a dandelion as a weed, then it's a bothersome, ugly little nuisance. If you look at it like a flower, then all of a sudden you erase all the negative emotions connected with it. It's like this with alot of things in life. Our jobs, our families, our responsibilities. We chose how we look at these. Are they annoyances or blessings? I'm going to try to start looking at the things in my life like flowers, not weeds and the next time I mow the yard, I'm going to feel a bit of sorrow that I'm wacking off all those yellow buds. Never fear though. They'll be back. The always come back.
