I have a nice garden in the back. Petunias, begonias, carnations. But during these dog-days of summer, it ain't looking so hot. What's the cause?
1. Is it a failure to properly water? or
2. Is it a failure to use copious amounts of "weed killer"?
If you think the problem is 2, but in truth, the problem is 1 --- well, too much "weed killer" will eventually kill all the nice flowers.
If you think the problem is 1, but in truth, the problem is 2 --- well, you might grow some healthy flowers, but they might be wrecked with weeds.
If you think the problem is a combination of 1 & 2 --- well, you gotta use your best "green-thumb" judgment as to the proper amounts of each: mebbe some more water, mebbe a little weed-killer every now and then.
However, If the problem definitely ain't 2 --- then no amount of "weed-killer" is gonna make the garden better.
Hank, lovely parable. It encompasses Aids quite nicely, like the current paradigm, it doesn't give the option for use of water only. Hank's parable assumes that there are weeds in the garden and it there were a few, certainly there are more natural means to get rid of the nasty little buggers without harming the beauty of the garden.
Posted by: noreen martin | August 11, 2006 at 08:33 AM
Right on, Noreen. Sometimes we just have to do the harder thing if we want to best results. Will weed killer kill weeds? Most of the time, unless you are using a poison that is really geared to a different species of weed. Then it becomes more than useless, as it kills (as Hank says) things you don't want to die. So sometimes you just get down there with the flowers, get your hands dirty, sweat a little, and pull out anything you don't want in your beautiful garden.
Not that I had any allegorical thoughts while writing this.
Posted by: Johnny B. | August 12, 2006 at 01:50 AM