Smokey Mountain Breakdown

It's been poring rain again today. But we need it, so it is welcome.

It's the perfect sort of day for reflection. Betsy and I were chatting on the phone the other day and she was trying to recall this quote about lawn mowers and well-poisoners. Except for the lawn mower bit...it almost sounded biblical. I was intrigued enough with the idea to try to look it up and see who said it.

The saying goes that there are three types of people in the world; gardeners, lawn mowers and well poisoners. The closest attribution to the saying I've found was that it was something that Walt Disney was fond of saying. I don't know if he actually was the first to say it, or if it came from somewhere else. And he actually said "life enhancers" instead of "gardeners". But "life enhancers" sounds entirely too L. Ron Hubbard for my liking, so I'll keep with gardeners.

I suppose, if the quote was older..."lawn mowers" could have replaced "hay makers".

The gardeners are the creative force. The people who reach out and give. They are the creators dealing with the messy business of making things and making things happen.

The Lawn Mowers are those who take care of the status quo. Who mow the lawns and make the hay and take care of themselves. I understand that Disney was a bit disparaging of the Lawn Mowers. He saw them as being self-centered. I don't necessarily hold with that. The world needs the Lawn Mowers. They give a sense of order to things. I need more lawn mowing in my life.

And then the Well Poisoners. I think we all know who they are. They suck the life out of everything they touch; they spread malicious gossip; they impact the world only in the negative. And it is the only truly great enjoyment they have in life. And for that, they deserve our pity. I mean, can you imagine what it would be like if your only happiness was derived from schadenfreude?

But I'm not sure three types is enough for all the people in the world. I have these giant goldenrod like plants taking over my pasture that nothing will eat. They just sit there and grow to seven feet tall and over run everything. I've tried cutting them down, poisoning them, the damn things are seemingly indestructible. The locals call them "stick plants". Because they leave a hollow giant sticks in the ground when they die. I'm thinking we need a category of people for the stick plants. Those people who just exist and take up resources. They aren't as bad as the Well Poisoners, but they aren't actually good either.

Cousin Pastor Jimmy says Pigs will eat the stick plants...but not much else will. I'm thinking of getting me a few pigs and see if they will clear them out.

So...I'm seeing four types of people in my world. The Gardeners, the Lawn Mowers, the Well-Poisoners and the Stick Plants. I can probably come up with more.

I wonder if Dante started out with this train of thought and just got carried away?