Lawn Care

So, I haven't written a lot lately.

I've been busy.

And at the same time, I've been lazy.

So I will make a concerted effort to write more, because otherwise I lose track of my life...I lose things I was thinking, I can't look back a year from now and say, "Hey, I remember thinking about that".

Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about how naive I was as a child. In fact, it comes up every time I water my lawn...which has been about every 3 days.

Let me tell you the story of my lawn. My lawn has been the greenest in the neighborhood since the sun started showing it's rays. I thought it was just fine. Other lawns were browning, neighbors were fertilizing and watering, shaking their heads not understanding how my lawn could be so green and theirs turning brown already. I laughed it off inside my mind and figured I was just "lucky".

Really, I wasn't. The brown caught up to me quick. I honestly thought our front yard was dead within a few weeks and that we would have to replant the grass. But before I continue down that road, I want to talk about my thought pattern as a child. I used to think how silly it was to waste all that water...on stupid grass? When millions of people don't get fresh water, we sit here and waste it on our grass...something that doesn't even provide us with shade...or at least a flower...The first time I really watered the lawn, running the sprinkler in front and watering by hand in the back, this is all I could think of. Was how as a child I used to tell people how cars were bad, how we were destroying the earth, how the rain forest was being destroyed...I used to think that I would never drive a car. I would take the bus, or even better I would run or bike to work. What happened between then and now? I can't pinpoint it. Well, maybe I can.

In a bullshit lecture I took at UW, geography 100...in fact, I think one of my first freshman classes ever that I didn't do too amazing in...We had a scale shown to us on the giant projection screen. A scale from 1 to 5. 5 being the tree huggers, someone who would chain themselves to a tree before they let it be cut down, and then the people who were 1s. Those that didn't recycle, didn't pay attention to "no burn bans", you get the point. The professor asked, "Ok, raise your hand if you are a 5". A few people raised their hands, as expected. I'd say maybe 10%. "Raise your hand if you are a 4". More people raised their hands. "3" Almost everyone in the room raised their hand. I began to put my hand up when the little class clown/sarcastic bastard inside of me yelled out, "WAIT!". So I held on, not sure what was going to happen."2". About the same amount of people as "5" had their hands raised.

He said, "Ok then, how about the 1s?"
*hand raised*
*looks around*
*realizes that no one is raising their hand*

"You sir! You!" The professor yelled up.
"Me?" as I pointed at myself
"No, him in the balcony...what's your name?"
Relieved, I realized that ONE other person had raised their hands. They were in the balcony though so I couldn't see them."My name's Forrest".

*The auditorium burst in to laughter at the irony*

"Well Forrest, why did you raise your hand?"

*Forrest sounded high*

"Well, uhhhh...well, uhhh...yeah, you know, burning trees isn't so bad, it can give you heat and you can make s'mores and stuff"

*more laughter*

The professor tried to come up with some sort of rebuttal, but to no avail...the class had been lost at that point. Finally after calming everyone down, he pointed at me.

"Ok, now you. What's your name?"

"Seth"

"Alright Seth, well go on, tell us why your the guy that's out to kill the Earth"

"...I just figure that we're all going to die anyway right? So if we're going to die, why don't we use up all the resources we have available to us to make our time as enjoyable as possible?"

*stunned, the auditorium bursts in to more laughter...my face starts to get red*

"Oh, that's quite the ideal you've got there Seth...just the same crap that generations before us have passed down to us right? Screw the children, they can figure it out for themselves right?"

At that point, I could kind of tell he was irked by what I had said. He was probably hoping to get out of this lecture without dealing with a bastard like me. I conceded to him. It was his class.

"Yeah, sure, something like that".

And actually, other than getting a 3.2 in that class, that is the only thing I remember...that and my "group session with TA" where everyone ragged on me for looking like an idiot.

Enough of a tangent.

Obviously my thoughts on this planet changed. I'm struggling with it though. As a child how could I have been so gung ho about saving this Earth? And suddenly as I grew older, take a 180?

I water my lawn to keep the grass greener on my side. I do a little victory dance when I see major brown spots in my neighbors yards and not mine. It is horrid. The amount of water I used on my lawn tonight could've probably nourished or bathed an entire village of 200 in Africa somewhere. I left the sprinkler on for 2 hours. I can't imagine how many gallons I used...fresh, clean water. I know they don't say to drink from the hose, but that is 10 times better than drinking from a pond that animals and other humans bathe in...

So just like, or so I believe, many other Americans that are struggling with the feeling that we've got to do our part...I'm not sure what to do. I've volunteered, I've donated money, I recycle and don't waste whenever possible...but still there's that little person inside of me still thinking those idealistic thoughts...the kid that wants me to ride my bike to work tomorrow, the kid that doesn't flush unless he goes #2 to conserve water, the kid that used to tell his parents to turn down the TV so he could concentrate on his book...I miss him a lot.

But it's been this conformity that has molded me. Everyone else drives to work. Everyone else waters their lawn. And just like everyone else, I pay the bills that allow me to enjoy all the natural resources available to me. We're all a bunch of lucky SOBs.There are some other things that I wanted to talk about other than my lawn. But I suppose that will have to wait until my next write. I'm going to hold myself to writing at least 4 times this month...and with that, goodnight.