When Weeds Are Not Weeds

I haven't done as much gardening this past year.  The weather's been good, but the motivation wasn't there.  Besides, there were too many other things to do.

So, I let some weeds grow.  I turned a blind eye.  And they grew.  And they grew.  And lo and behold, they flowered, pink and white.  My oldest daughter picked handfuls over the past month or so.  She put some in a vase and suddenly the plant--with former classification of weed--looked entirely beautiful to me.  At first glance, I was sure it was some flower wrongly picked from a neighbor's garden or, perhaps, from an empty field.  She took great care to arrange them just so in a vase she had hand-painted herself and glued together after its near-fatal fall.


There is great symbolism for me in all of this.  And, I don't have to do much digging to find the deeper meaning.  According to test scores, some students are classified, so to speak, as academic weeds.  Some may even begin to believe it.  But don't uproot them.  Encourage them instead and let them grow.  You'll soon see their beauty in all its glory, staring you straight in the face.  You'll realize this "plant" is only a weed in the deformed mind of someone who understands very little about the beauty embedded in nature and the roots of a healthy education.