Dollarweed. That it was targeted for indiscriminant extinction in the US -- across the South and up the East coast in which regions it proliferated -- made no sense to Zoe at all.
Zoe loved dollarweed -- first, as a matter of aesthetics. Because it was, when looked at without negative cultural bias, really beautiful. A prolific runner that sprouted verdant, densely-spaced umbrella leaves that were miniaturized versions of those which cradled water lily blossoms. Why, then, when water lilies were so revered, were their tiny lookalikes so reviled?
She was also awed by the number of ways in which dollarweed exemplified evolutionary excellence: it required neither seeding and netting, nor cultivation in sod to take root; it was so adaptive that it could thrive in arid, sun-baked soil and even in sand, or in shaded, over-watered conditions; and it was so resilient that it had faced down and survived ruthless assault by its enemies that came in serial waves with remorseless intent to kill it. Yet, not one of the forces ranged against it had ultimately prevailed: not obsessed suburbanites angrily ripping out its root tendrils; not landscape gardeners methodically saturating it with pesticides; not acid rain and tainted ground waters that assaulted its root system – nor even the gods themselves who, in episodic temper trantrums, hurled flood and hurricane-driven surges of salt water across it which drowned or burned every other plant in sight. Dollarweed's response? Within weeks, according to its own imprinted instructions for recovery, tiny new shoots tipped with furled leaves quietly emerged again.
There was, then -- so far as she knew -- no other groundcover on the planet as flexible or as patient in its quiet determination to survive, long-term....with the possible exception of Kudzu. Dollarweed simply and quietly affirmed not only its right but its choice to be. It asked nothing in return but to be left alone to live, prosper and propagate.
Zoe wondered whether or not the parallels she saw so clearly between America's futile attacks on dollarweed and its attacks on Middle Eastern populations might be impressed on the current administration, the Department of the Interior, the EPA and the Pentagon. What person in what relevant department might be convinced that these were both ill-conceived, ill-advised, immoral no-win wars?
As Zoe considered these issues, dollarweed vines stretched and extended, celebrating their reclaimed autonomy ..…
© 2010
Comments
Wiki says South America and Central America.
Do you realize that for the first 55 years I have been coming to this area of Northern Minnesota, there was no scum on the ponds?
These leaves a beautiful. Probably were the focus of some exterminators.
We have leave growths in the fresh water that look much like these. Lily pads...whatever.
Interesting take. Never thought about it.
by Richard Day on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 8:00pm
Thanks so much for your response, DD.
Muddied waters, tainted views. And yet we survive, hard-wired for peace, as well as for war. Yet frequently needing reminders, which thankfully abound, around us.
by wws on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 8:25pm
As you may know, Wendy, after a prolonged use of pesticides the plant it is used on becomes resistant to that pesticide. Either a new control must be devised or a stronger pesticide invented. But, in the end, the dollarweed will prevail simply by being its own self. There is no person in any department of any agency that can conquer the dollarweed unless there is someone there with the wisdom to let the dollarweed exist as the dollarplant.
by wabby on Sat, 10/02/2010 - 9:57pm
I use herbicides on weeds and pesticides on the bugs. *giggle*
by trkingmomoe on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 2:49am
Quite right, it should be herbicide -- thanks for the correction; I'll fix it.
by wws on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 10:36am
Yep. That is generally the proper use of each, momoe. But, since Wendy was doing the metafore thing against our wars, I figured I'd respond in kind.
In any case, please leave your chemicals at home if you ever visit me here in Michigan. :) My organic gardens will thank you...and so will I. ;)
And when will you publish the quilting story? Quilts and I have always gotten along great. "She who dies with the biggest stash wins!"
by wabby on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 10:51am
DollarPLANT .... exactly, Flower. The hideous power of pejorative words, whether "weed" or "other."
by wws on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 10:35am
Nice allegory, Wendy.
Toward an answer to your question, though, I'd have to say no. By and large you would be attempting to convince the same people who already convinced that it is our right to shape the natural world into our own vision; or to use it and discard it, then disregard it.
That which our culture finds inconvenient is toast (see:dollarweed and kudzu); with Empire, those we consider inconvenient...are toast (see: oh, god; we all know the lists...).
Barry Lopez said that until we stop seeing the natural world as other, as separate from us, we will continue to see others as separate from us; or something similar. Why we believe some of us are more worthy than others always gets us into trouble; the next step is believing that because we are more worthy, we are also right about things, and can brook no doubt or vulnerablility to the belief that our visions and opinions are Right, also gets us into big trouble.
by we are stardust on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 12:01pm
Rhetorical question, Wendy: why do we find it so hard to learn from history?
Thanks for the poem -- very apt; did you write it?
by wws on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 1:35pm
I wish; haven't any poems inside me. Carl Sandburg.
(Luckily, rhetorical questions aren't meant to be answered.) ;o)
by we are stardust on Sun, 10/03/2010 - 1:38pm