Weeds: The survival of the inconvenient

 

     Weeds. What in the world are weeds? They always seem to be disliked -- almost a synonym for unwanted. But what are they really? I would propose that weeds are plants/things that prosper better than other plants/things that we WANT to cultivate.

     People can admire, and enjoy, the benefits of dandelions -- dandelion salads, dandelion wine, dandelion vinegar, dandelion soap, ... But, if you want a yard full of Kentucky bluegrass and, instead, you have half of the yard with little yellow flowers turning into floating seed farms then that is when the definition of "weed" comes into play. We are (many of us, anyway) willing to poison ourselves, and the environment, with glyphosates in order to gain a measure of pretended control over our yards to get rid of that persistent survivor.

     There are the tradeoffs of economics. If you can sell tulips for $100/bushel (I'm making up these numbers) and dandelions are only worth $10/bushel -- IF you can find the appropriate market and transfer the dandelions in fresh enough condition -- then you do what you can to focus your resources on raising tulips and denying the dandelions the right to survive.

     But there may also be the affront to our pride. It is OUR yard and we want that Kentucky bluegrass to run from sidewalk to house. So, when dandelions (and possibly crabgrass, and sand burrs, and thistles, ...) decide to invade, we marshal our resources and try to have our own choice win out in the battle of the yard.

     Note also that those "weeds" -- those undesirably successful plants/things -- may have negative aspects too. In such cases, we might be forgiven our dislike of them. I remember not being able to walk barefoot through the lawn because of the proliferation of sand burrs. Designed to attach to feathers and fur in order to spread throughout the universe, they don't feel that good to bare feet.

     When we want to plant a particular crop in a field, the first step is to clear out everything that existed there before -- which was probably a viable ecology built up over time to live the best for the environment -- both weather and varieties of plants and animals that existed in that area. We do our best to eliminate all of the old and that which continues to survive, we call "weeds".

     The same can happen within societal and business cultures. We want to change an aspect of that culture -- eliminate past biases or practices, change orientation of business development, change to a different product line, allow for change in business needs or circumstances, etc. And the old culture will continue to permeate, with old behaviors and attitudes popping back up.

     Within a different, perhaps older, culture those would be acceptable but, within the desired modified culture, they are "weeds". If there is a commitment to the new, then the old must be pruned if they cannot be modified. In their time, they were acceptable and appreciated -- remember that when pruning and modifying.