Not Always What It Seems

I pulled weeds today. The weeds were a common weed called Morning Glory. There were some dandelions and others as well. But, mostly it was Morning Glory. Morning Glory is a vine. It grows everywhere. It is surprisingly easy to pull up. But, also surprisingly hard to kill.

Oh, and it grows very fast. I completely cleared my garden space earlier this Spring. Today the garden plot was nearly completely covered with them. I haven’t planted anything in the garden yet. But, I also have a strawberry patch and the Morning Glory had it pretty well covered too.

Is it a good or a bad thing when plants are hardy?

Yes.

Morning Glory is a hardy plant. You couldn’t kill it if you tried. In the case of Morning Glory, “hardy” is an undesirable trait. My strawberries seem to be holding their own against the invasive vine. Hardy strawberries are a good thing.

There’s a game called Train. It’s a pretty simple concept. You are presented with a train car and the object is to figure out how to get as many people as possible into the train car.

At one point during the game you turn over a card that identifies the destination of your train: Auschwitz. At this point the players of the game realize the truth. The games designer, Brenda Romero typically manages each time the game is played. She said her purpose was to teach complicity.

The players go from the highs of winning a game to the devastation of knowing they were complicit in sending Jews to their deaths.

I thought of the game while thinking out those “hardy” plants. Is being good at something really good? Is winning a game a success?

And I thought of another example: ruthless. Is it good or bad to be ruthless? A good movie villain is ruthless. But, what about in real life? I’ve heard stories of ruthless people. I’ve even met a couple. People who could not be trusted. Who were only out for themselves and were willing to take advantage of anything and anyone who got in their way.

Can ruthlessness be a positive trait? Have you ever known someone who was ruthless about doing what’s right? I have.

It’s popular for certain people to talk about how tough they are. How they are someone to be careful of.

I’ve always thought that a truly dangerous man would not need to tell people how dangerous he was. In fact, the more dangerous he was, the less he’d need to say so.

Plants

Railway Cars
Ruthless
Toughness

Good or bad depends on your perspective.

Stay safe

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here

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