Gleaning more from the word 'Grassroots'

This afternoon I spent about an hour and a half pulling grass out of about a three-foot square corner of our already small veggie garden. It was no small task. After a visit to the Portland Nursery yesterday w/ sprigs of grass in my hand, I learned that there are basically two types of grass: the kind that have short root systems (which are most common on residential yards) and the kind that have long, extensive roots systems and that are spread via rhizomes. There is a particular variety of the latter type called 'Bermuda Grass' that I believe is making headway in our yard. It is a nasty weed that is virtually impossible to get rid of w/o an herbicide of some kind. And it is popping up all over our otherwise dead, yellow turf - and showing up all over the perimeter areas, inside the veggie garden as I mentioned, and also down in the rock/dry beds/parking strips. I HATE it. I'm sure this is a very useful kind of grass in the prairie where some type of animal could eat it for sustenance and therefore keep it under control...but it is a weed in a residential yard like ours. Did I mention that I hate it? Because I do. God only knows if I actually succeeded in removing the grass for that area - there were millions of tiny roots down there, and I have no idea if they were offshoots of the larger grass roots, or if they were roots of some other plant. I will probably find out in a few weeks.
Anyway, I thought I would update my readers (so, like, maybe three people) w/ the progress of our veggie garden. So far one of our tomato plants is beginning ot bear fruit. Also, the squash is doing well (and that one I didn't even plant!). The bare corner of the veggie garden is where I dug up all the grass - I planted what I hope will become some winter veggies - lettuce, kale, carrots and radishes.

I have no idea what I am doing. Most of the time if I think about what I am doing I get overwhelmed w/ possiblities and further questions of what to do next, how to do it, what would be best, etc. But then I start doing whatever it is that I'm thinking about and after many hours I feel better.

Once again I thought of an analogy while outside today pulling the grass. It reminded me of what I heard about the mustard plant while listening to Shane Claiborne's Another World Is Possible: Creation CD. The word 'grassroots' has had mostly positive connotations throughout my lifetime - for me the word stirs up images of brave people in our history who have fought the status quo and banded together to bring about positive change. Economic justice. Racial and sexual equality. Freedom of thought, speech and religion. Worker rights. Environmental protection. Nearly all progressive social change comes about throughout grassroots activism - it usually does not come about through a person in a powerful position deciding to make the change - usually because they themselves believe they are benefitting from keeping things the way they are. The mustard plant, if I remember correctly, is a burly, unsightly thing. Although it comes from a tiny, tiny seed, it produces a hefty plant that eventually nobody really wants to mess with. I think Bermuda grass is similiar. With each tear in the root system, it produces a stronger, larger strain of the grass. It multiplies underground and you have to dig deep and wide to pull out the entire strand. Meanwhile there are little roots underground that are happy you made room for them. As one dies, several more grow in its place.

Now, you may be wondering what the hell I'm talking about. Well, I suppose what I am trying to say here is that social change can be, and often is, unsightly and, quite frankly, annoying to deal with for the rest of us who aren't necessarily on the front lines of any particular social or environmental cause today. I'm sure that I'm not alone in feeling a bit frustrated over the overwhelming influx of emails and mail correspondence from dozens of organizations who are working tirelessly for the one issue they want so badly to change. Our generation, being so connected through the internet and generally in-the-know about what is going on in the world, have an unprecedented amount of pressure to do something about all of the suffering, unrest, and environmental degradation our world is currently facing. We have an unprecedented amount of pressure because, to our knowledge, we have inherited a world w/ an unprecedented amount of problems that will only worsen if we do not step up and do something about it.

I hope my generation and the one that follows are more like mustard seeds and Bermuda grass rhizomes - I hope and pray that we are so unsightly and annoying that positive social and environmental change actually comes into fruition. Jesus had a much more eloquent way of saying this - the parable of the seed. Perhaps being sown on good soil is more important than being an unrelenting plant. But what does that mean? Ok, I'm done for today. Time to go make dinner!