Dandelions

 A man who took great pride in his lawn found himself with a large crop of dandelions. He tried every method he knew to get rid of them. He dusted them, sprayed them, ignored them, burned them – yet still they plagued him.

Finally he wrote the Department of Agriculture. He enumerated all the methods he had tried and closed his letter with the question: “What shall I do now?”

In due course the reply came: “We suggest you learn to love them.”

The man knew that learning to love them would be no easy matter. He began by talking to them each day. He would smile at them and try to converse. Cordial. Friendly. They only responded with a sullen silence. They were still smarting from the war the man had waged against them. They were also probably a little suspicious of his motives.

But it wasn’t long before they smiled back. Soon they relaxed and even replied to what was being said to them. It was not much longer then a friendship started. Enemies no longer, the man and the crop of dandelions were friends learning to respect and even love each other.

The man’s lawn, of course, was ruined. But how lovely his garden became.