Green

“The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” —Socrates (unverified)

I don’t have a small picket fence. I have a big ol’ 5 foot fence. And my neighbors are down grade so they can’t see over it. But if they could they’d quote Socrates.

The reality is the green lawn is not grass. In the Pacific Northwest it’s a bunch of moss and weeds living amidst the grass. They’re sucking the resources of the grass. From a distance it looks lush. Up close it is uninviting for leisure.

If lawns were meant only to be looked at this green substitute may suffice.

I killed all the moss with a product off the shelf that said it would kill moss. I pulled all the weeds with my spade and glove. I removed the dead stuff with a thatcher rake which is some honest labor if you’ve never tried it. Now the grass is a green scatter plot on a canvas of bare ground. It doesn’t look greener than the surrounding lawns but at least it’s no longer a fraud.

While all this was taking place I kept thinking of building software. There are analogies.

The point is Socrates didn’t say that quote. I don’t know who did. If you do please help.


Published: 2016-04-10

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