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For those of you old enough to remember George Burns, you might remember the movie "Oh God" in which he portrayed God. If you don't remember it or have not seen it, look it up; it was very well done. Funny, inspirational, thought-provoking and entertaining for the whole family. Of course it was made before movies were all about gruesome killings, constant explosions, violence or people having casual sex. By today's present standards, it might not be considered popular, but I enjoyed it and I think you will too.
In any event, George Burns portrayed God who makes contact with an individual played by John Denver (the singer), whom he asks to convey a message to the people of the world. In order to pull this off, God uses a mixture of heavenly techniques but maintains a human element through the talents of George Burns. During the exchanges with Denver, God (Burns) discusses some failures he made when creating heaven and earth, "Tobacco was one of my big mistakes, should have never done that. The Ostrich was another, silly looking thing and who makes a bird that can't fly? Oh, and the Avocado -- made the pit way too big!"
The movie came back to my mind over the weekend as I was helping my wife in her flower garden due to the overwhelming influx of weeds this summer. Kneeling on the ground pulling weeds is not my idea of a "fun" time, but I was making my best husbandly attempt at enjoying myself. Suddenly it dawned on me: God made weeds and he also made flowers. Is one really better than the other? Flowers are delicate and beautiful but seem to get stressed out easily and seem to demand constant attention. Did you ever notice that weeds seem to survive in any conditions? Weeds are tough little buggers. They seem to look for difficult places to grow just to prove they can do it. From a tiny crack in a sidewalk to a small patch of earth on a cliff, look closely and you will see a weed has staked out a place to grow.
You can pull them, spray them, cut them, stomp on them and weeds keep coming back month after month, year after year. It occurred to me that maybe instead of flower beds, we should have weed beds. One thing is for sure, it would be cheaper and a lot less work. Plus, you don't have to plant weeds, they plant themselves. Another advantage of weed beds is they do not require mulch; they keep expanding and inviting other weeds until they fill up all the available space, another cost- and labor-saving feature
I realized when George Burns, as God, in the movie claimed to have made some mistakes when creating earth that it was done solely for humor purposes because actually God does not make mistakes. I truly believe he has done everything for a purpose and man is the one who sometimes just doesn't get it right. I believe it is time we gave weeds their rightful place in society, allow them to flourish and stop trying to kill them. Although I admit a few potted flowers or hanging basket plants are a nice touch, let's give weeds a chance.
John Kasun writes from his home in Duncansville where he is having trouble convincing his wife of his new weed theory and hopes she does not discover that he has been adding water to her sprayer full of weed killer to reduce its potency.