Thursday, August 20, 2009

Weeds Are Just Weeds*

Robert Wright writes about his experience with meditation in the Times' "Happy Days" blog:
"On a walk one day I looked down at one of those weeds and it looked as beautiful as any other plant. Why, I wondered, had I bought into the “weed” label? Why had I so harshly judged an innocent plant?"
I'm with Robert Wright on that. Weeds are plants too. I'll take a wild, untended patch *any* day over a manicured, fussed-over garden.

But a lizard, that he also writes about in his article, is my blind-spot.
"...there was my moment of bonding with a lizard. I looked at this lizard and watched it react to local stimuli and thought: I’m in the same boat as that lizard — born without asking to be born, trying to make sense of things, and far from getting the whole picture."
Indiana Jones couldn't stand snakes. Henry Jones, Sr., his father, couldn't stand rats and I will never ever have the jones for empathizing with lizards. It's a childhood phobia thing.

Yes, I know, that is *just* where my inquiry should begin. Why am I repelled by the lizard's form? What exactly is it about a lizard that simply freezes me? I recognize, with more than just a little sadness and frustration, these are questions I can't even begin to think about.

So, good post, Mr. Wright, but I would much rather work with weeds and ponder over simpler questions like the Meaning Of It All. At least I do not have to deal with slithering forms, beady little eyes, darting tongues and terrifying scenarios involving ceiling fans and detachable tails.

(*)

11 comments:

blackmamba said...

At the risk of sounding super-nerdy, I am going to say this.

When I was 14, I was the headgirl at a camp of about 400 people. 200 girls maybe. Settling disputes at night was one of my unofficial responsibilities. This particular one involved getting rid of a dead chameleon one of the girls had found and perched on her windowsill. She had 4 other girls sharing the room, who refused to enter it until it was removed.

Long story short, I had to pet the said thing in order to convince the girl that I wasn't creeped out or scared, but I was just doing it for her roommates. sigh! that was half a bottle of dettol spent in scrubing out skin from my palm that night.

The chameleon looked remarkably alive and had not started to fall apart yet. so, it was like touch a live one. anyway...there.*

* maybe I should friend her on facebook just to put this story on her wall.

km said...

Black Mamba

Now, with a handle like that....

But *SHUDDER*. And: OH MY GOD. Stop. This. Madness.Now.

Oh God no. Yes, you were very brave but no, no, no!

Space Bar said...

km: any time youwant a lizard pic to meditate upon, let me know. We have a lot of very cute baby geckos at home just now.

bm: :D

Falstaff said...

BM: fondling lizards? really?

The things some people will do for a piece of tail.

km said...

ROFLMAO@Falstaff's comment :D

SB: BWAHBWAHBWAHBWAH. Didn't hear a thing of what you said.

??! said...

Space: Didn't you put up a lizard snap some time back?

KM:
Dude, did you have nightmares for a month after Jurassic Park? And what about King Kong? And Godzilla?

Space Bar said...

??!: Ya I did. And pushed it down real quick out of consideration for our man here.

But there's a fresh batch that I've been trying to photograph but they're *so* tiny. All semi-transparent and...but this is km's blog and we will not give him the heebies.

blackmamba said...

@falsie: not any piece of tail, a piece of detachable tail. :)

Autotomy, woohoo..not

Lekhni said...

He spoiled it all by talking about "experiencing the structure of his brain".

I don't mind lizards - although back in India, I used to worry that they would fall into milk pots - for some reason, I was convinced that they'd only have to see a white surface to jump into it.

km said...

Lekhni: That milk-pot thing was nightmare scenario #3. Uggh.

??!: King Kong is a reptile? When did that happen? (I had sleepless nights after Jurassic Park but for different reasons. Also, dinos aren't slithery and don't fall into milk-pots.)

SB: Grrr....

??! said...

Wasn't there a hideous lizard-fighting scene in the new KK? After he beats off some plants as well? Or were those bugs?