The Garden

While in the garden the other day, I noted that the intense period of the drought that we have experienced in Australia over the last few years, has led to my lawn becoming a dust bowl with individual tufts of grass. In addition, some trees and shrubs have also turned up their toes due to the lack of moisture.

As the grass turned brown and then disappeared, so did my interest in taking preventative action against weeds and other garden pests.

Suddenly we had a little rain. There was a burst of green growth. What grew? Weeds and more weeds! I had no idea that they could spring up from nowhere, so quickly.

Today, just a few days later, they seem to represent the dominant life form in my garden. I suspect that there will be only one way to deal with them - merciless extermination. Then my garden will once again take on the look and feel that I have designed.

I wonder if my thinking about my garden applies to the macro world that I live in?

Under the tyranny of Saddam Hussein the level of crime, the potential for insurrection, was kept under control. Saddam was merciless with the "weeds" in his garden. He would poison them, gas them, cut them down in their prime and even practice some forms of genocide to try and prevent them from gaining even a foothold.

Those that responded to the efforts of this 'gardener', those that pleased his aesthetic senses were rewarded and nurtured.

As the USA invaded the country, ostensibly to remove what we now know were the non existent weapons of mass destruction, they removed the "gardener". The groups that have been repressed for ages have suddenly grown quickly and flourished and want to throw out the invader and take power.

As we watch the destruction of Fallujah, it is interesting to speculate whether the behaviour that accompanied the tyranny of Saddam, will become the behaviour of the USA? Will they also treat the people of Iraq as 'weeds' and mercilessly eliminate any opposition to their view of how the 'garden' should look?

No doubt, as in the USA, there will be bushes (pardon the pun) that not only survive, but thrive. Alas all those who do not fit into the new vision are likely to be considered as "weeds" in this American garden and will need to be eliminated to promote the growth and well being of more useful 'plants'.

After all, the well being of the average American, his/her requirements for health care, education, housing and an adequate income does not appear to be high on the agenda of the current administration.