What Does a Weed Have to Do With Questioning What You Think You Know?

Kudzu weeds smothering 100 foot trees and taking over a drainage ditch by railroad tracks in downtown Atlanta on Piedmont Road - Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: Emerson lived in the early 19th century. He was a great writer from whom today we pull a lot of equally great quotes. Emerson was also a minister, not a finger-pointer of faults and tongue-wagging fear-mongerer, but a man who sought to teach people to think clearly and critically. That's why his words are still so valuable 180 years later! Some concepts are eternal, and, as they say on the web, evergreen. :)

Emerson was one deep thinker and constantly pulled metaphors for our lives from his surroundings of Nature. How many times when you go to mow your beautiful perfect lawn have you discovered an ugly weed sticking up and out of character for "the green neighborhood"?

Emerson talks about weeds in this quote as having worth. What? What weeds have worth? Well, I can think of one example. Back in the 1930's kudzu was brought from China to America to feed cattle during the Great Depression. You see, kudzu can grow during the summer up to one or more feet a day, yes, a DAY! It is one fast-growing healthy ancient vine.

That was great back in the 1930's but eventually those family farms were abandoned or sold and no longer farmed. Yes, you guessed it, the kudzu kept growing and growing and growing! When I lived in Atlanta you would see it on abandoned city lots downtown, growing over street lights and creeping and running along high electrical lines and back down again on the telephone poles and over to a large tree to smother that too. Unbelievable. So, now what?

Turns out America became aware of a new herbicide back in the 1980's, 50 years later after the kudzu invasion, called Roundup. Well, I got news for you, it works for the short term but the kudzu wins anyway! OK, again, "So, now what?"

By the 1990's it was learned that the Japanese prize kudzu for its roots. What do they do with it? They harvest the roots and make their version of a food thickener like our own cornstarch. Pretty cool, huh?! :)

So, here you thought kudzu was useless as just some weed when it has beneficial food value! Bet you will never look at a weed the same again! :) Even Emerson soon realized the conventional thought about weeds is not always accurate - and to make sure you question everything you think you know.

Quote

"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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America quotes, gardening, life, minister, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Culture, weeds, 19th century, Great Depression, World Literature, Arts, China, Literature, Atlanta

How Do Your Words & Actions Become Your Destiny?

Stylized deity like veneration of Lao Tze Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: I guess this ancient Chinese philosopher ought to know what he's talking about! As people we really are a collection of what we focus upon over time. As a result we can experience disastrous consequences or bountiful rich happy experiences. Most of us experience Life somewhere in the middle zone.

Our decisions can make us or break us. In the end, our decisions certainly teach us all. And what is Life but one long-running classroom anyway? Keep smiling no matter what; sooner or later you will work your way out of a bad decision Karma backlash. It happens to the best of us. :)

Quote

"Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny."

— Lao-Tze

When is Honesty a Good Virtue or Destructive?

Photo by batega @ flickr

From Denny: The word "honesty" is often batted about like a cheap tennis ball these days. Many people use it as an excuse to be cruel to others for in so doing they think they have taken away someone else's power and gained a step above the one they hurt. It's a sick dance and it's pretty amazing how many people are willing to participate in such a relationship. Too often those are close relationships like parent and child or spouses. No one seems to stop long enough to realize the destructive pattern and then they wonder why they are so unhappy in life.

Honesty does have another side to it in the form of living your own life in Truth. Often it does entail taking a long hard look in the mirror and making changes on the heart level. Honesty is a big help when you are going through that transformation process.

Honesty is best delivered first to self, then to others. And when you are thinking about delivering honesty to others ask yourself one question: Do they really want to hear this? Most times the answer is No, not really.

But what about the friend whose husband is cheating on her? Answer: You don't tell her. You know why? Because she will refuse to believe you. Then the second step is that after she finds out you were telling her the truth she will hate you for telling her. End of your relationship as she reconciles with her annoying husband. I've seen that situation play out time and time again.

We all want to desperately tell our good friends when someone is "doing them wrong." The problem is the vast majority of people are not yet ready to hear - and when they are at that place in their life when they are ready - it will be revealed without your intervention. Your job as a good friend is to wait patiently until your friend comes to you and tells you all about it, seeking comfort from you. Most people do want comfort and sympathy - and will accept it.

Quotes

"No legacy is so rich as honesty." - William Shakespeare

"Honesty is the cruelest game of all, because not only can you hurt someone - and hurt them to the bone - you can feel self-righteous about it at the same time." - Dave Van Ronk

Why Would Anyone Consider Happiness a Duty?

From Denny: It never ceases to amaze me how a writer from about 200 years ago can reach out from the past to say something so profound... I am in awe! Would this have occurred to you?

“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

How Do You Achieve Greatness With Little Effort?

From Denny: Have you ever noticed how human nature does not change over the centuries? You have only to read what writer Mark Twain said 100 years ago to realize it still holds true.

All the success gurus and positive thinkers of today are recycling truisms of the past because there is little institutional memory from generation to generation. What memory we do have of what humanity has managed to figure out as truth is deposited in our literature from ancient history to today.

“Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” - Mark Twain

Photo by muha... @ flickr

How Would You Define Honesty?

Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: Another great writer from our more recent American past, Mark Twain, also a great humorist.

"Honesty: The best of all the lost arts." - Mark Twain

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How Do You Develop Courage in Your Life?

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"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." — Ambrose Redmoon

Shakespeare on Love and relationships

This is his portrait that has been in the news lately.

William Shakespeare (via last.fm)

From Denny: Shakespeare has this enduring quality! He was a faithful reader of the Bible and often commented upon how he retold the plot lines found in the Bible. Definitely he was a man who could tell a good story or we would not still be reading and studying his work all these hundreds of years after he was gone from this Earth. His words still ring Truth.

Of course, Shakespeare has been in the news lately. They found an early portrait of him to verify how he really looked. The guy is such a publicity hound! Even he would probably find today's cultural fascination with him to be most amusing!

Here's his quote:

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – William Shakespeare

Men and fishing...

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Photo by Zest-pk @ flickr

Happiness

Image via Wikipedia

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." - Mark Twain