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Weeds never die.

So what do you do with them? Do you just let them run wild? Live free? Pretend they don’t exist?

Go after them with everything you’ve got? Poison them at the roots? Hack off the tops for the easy, quick kill? Full well knowing that they’ll be back?

Or are  you the weed?

Are you never going to go away? Are you never going to give up? Will you come back no matter what happens.

Are you willing to get your hands dirty?

Are you willing to get down on your hands and knees and dig? Get those hands dirty? Get it under your fingernails? Get down and dirty (literally) and do the work? Do that nasty stuff that you normally don’t want to do, but once you do it you realize that it’s actually meditative, it’s mindless battle, it’s even enjoyable and relaxing and it’s not a battle but a game and there is no winner, just players. Just you and the endless weeds and you have two hands and they are endless and relentless. What will you do in the face of such opposition?

Weeds never die.

They’re never going to die. Stress? Fear? Anger? Or feel the moist earth between your fingers and let it go. Keep at it and do your best. It’s not a zero-sum game. It’s just a game. Play.

* Loosely translated from my mother’s German.